We dive into the exciting world of Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador with three incredible guests: Kemal, Kiki, and Sela. They share their insights and experiences as they prepare for the upcoming Adopting Bitcoin conference on November 15th and 16th.
The episode also highlights the various events and activities surrounding the Adopting Bitcoin conference, including workshops, panels, and the vibrant Bitcoin community in El Salvador. Our guests share their passion for Bitcoin and the positive changes it's bringing to individuals and communities, encouraging listeners to join the movement and experience the magic of Bitcoin firsthand.
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Kemal
https://x.com/_pretyflaco
https://x.com/galoymoney
https://x.com/blinkbtc
Kiki
https://linktr.ee/bitcoinfarmersmarket
https://x.com/btcfarmersmrkt
https://linktr.ee/beefbackbetter
https://x.com/beefbackbetter
https://x.com/bitcoinbabey
Sela
https://x.com/bitcoinfilmfest
https://bitcoinfilmfest.com/
https://www.bitcoin4youth.com/
https://x.com/BTCJuniorClub
https://sv24.adoptingbitcoin.org/satellite-events
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(00:00:33) Introduction and Guest Welcome
(00:00:59) Adopting Bitcoin Conference Overview
(00:03:08) Kamal's Role and Bitcoin Adoption in El Salvador
(00:03:34) Kiki's Journey to Bitcoin and Community Building
(00:05:34) Shala's Bitcoin Junior Club and Education Initiatives
(00:07:33) Bitcoin Integration and Shopify Discussion
(00:09:06) First Bitcoin Conference Experiences
(00:10:43) Safety and Community in El Salvador
(00:13:47) Family and Bitcoin: Building Together
(00:16:29) Engaging Kids in Bitcoin Education
(00:19:32) Bitcoin Adoption and Growth in El Salvador
(00:24:25) Circular Economies and Local Impact
(00:31:01) Community Transformation and Hope
(00:35:16) Entrepreneurial Spirit and Opportunities
(00:37:33) Cultural Impact of Bitcoin
(00:42:33) Bitcoin Conferences and Networking
(00:47:34) Side Events and Activities
(00:52:39) Bitcoin Beach and El Zonte
(00:54:35) Noster and Technological Integration
(01:00:31) Final Thoughts and Encouragement to Attend
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[00:00:33]
Unknown:
Aloha, love tribe. Welcome to the show. I have 3 of the coolest people here on planet Earth who are going to be welcoming you guys down south to El Salvador for adopting Bitcoin November 15th 16th. This is Kamal, Kiki, and Shala. Welcome, you guys. It's so good to see you. Thanks. So much FOMO. I wanna, like, fly myself down there in in a month and come visit and have some fun. How's everybody doing? This is so cool, and I'm so glad to get to talk to y'all because you guys have some new things coming up for adopting Bitcoin this year. So, who I wanna you know, Kamal, why don't well, let's have you go first because I've been, you've been bringing me to to Adopteen for the last couple years. Unfortunately, this year, I'm not able to come down. So I'm gonna miss you, brother. But, yeah. I'll let you let everybody know who you are and what's up.
[00:01:23] Unknown:
Yeah. Thanks for having us, Valerie. It's really sad. You've been there for the past few years and always been this, you know, temple of good vibes radiating all over the place, to everybody. So you will be dearly missed. But we'll nevertheless, we're on a mission. Right? And, we have a whole country that has a lot of Bitcoin as legal tender, And we're we're and it's the year at we're we're already doing the 4th adoption. So my name is Kamal. I'm I'm one of the co organizers, since the beginning. And, yeah, usually, I work at Galloy and on Blynk, which is a Bitcoin lightning wallet for mobile phones that almost anybody can use.
I mean, Americans can't use it, because, you know, regulatory requirements, so we have to be compliant as a custodial service. But, yeah, it's, it's a wallet that everybody uses, and it's pretty cool because it onboards a lot of people and it's the wallet that, you know, the people in Bitcoin Beach, it was formerly known as Bitcoin Beach Wallet, used to get their Bitcoin Circular Economy project basically started, and, which ultimately then inspired the president, Nayy Bukele, to actually adopt this magic Internet money for all 7,000,000 saltedorens. So, yeah, that's what I do when I don't work on adopting Bitcoin. And, I'm based in Istanbul, father, husband, and, yeah, I'm looking forward to, go back to Bitcoin country again to see lots of really cool Bitcoiners and talks and sessions and workshops and everything that you know from adopting Bitcoin.
[00:03:28] Unknown:
I know you're a rock star, Kamal. You've put such a great event together, and it keeps growing and gathering all of these wonderful humans. So, Kiki, why don't you go next?
[00:03:38] Unknown:
Yeah. Awesome. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. I'm Kiki. I grew up in the Toronto area in Canada. My whole professional background is, like, all in restaurants, probably pretty Fiat, like, high time preference activities. And, you know, during 2020, my partner who's from Australia, his visa was coming up, and we were like, we can't stay here anymore. I kinda lost my direction of my career, and we actually went to Mexico first. We spent 6 months in Oaxaca, Mexico. It was beautiful, like, amazing place to visit, but we did not find any like minded people. We didn't find any Bitcoiners.
And it wasn't until I moved to El Salvador in April, two and a half years ago that I finally met another Bitcoiner other than my boyfriend for the first time. That was pretty exciting. Tried to They're real. They're real. I swear, mom. Tried to, you know, figure out what I was gonna do with my life. I was working online, started doing some community activities with Hope House and Bitcoin Beach, went to my first ever Bitcoin conference. It was adopting Bitcoin 2022. I remember sitting there, like, being like, wow, this is so cool. I don't know anyone. Like, I'm pretty new to the space. Like, I wonder where this will take me, you know. And fast forward now to 2 years later, and, my partner and I are running the Bitcoin Farmers Market.
We do it twice a week or twice a month, sorry, in Al Zonte and once a month in Berlin, Ozalotan. He also owns and operates, Beef Back Better, which is a local Salvador and grass fed beef business. So I haven't we haven't strayed too far from our roots, but trying to find, you know, like, the sound food to, like, accompany the sound money aspect. And now being a part of the adopting Bitcoin project has been incredible. A lot of work, but, like, the best kind of work, and we get to meet some amazing people. And, yeah, I'm excited to to get it all together and make it happen in 1 month.
[00:05:44] Unknown:
It's gonna be so good. I'm so glad. It's so you're so lucky to be there. Awesome. Okay. Shala, you're next.
[00:05:52] Unknown:
Yeah. Thank you as well for for having me for having us here. Thank you. Yeah. So I guess maybe some of you might know me from Bitcoin Film Fest because this is one of the projects that my heart is beating or for which and with which my heart is beating. But, this year I also started my, my own project or my private hobby project, which is focused on kids, families. It's called Bitcoin Junior Club. It's, mostly, about Bitcoin education, financial, freedom, but I would say, and this is what I strongly believe in if we don't think for ourselves. So if we don't help the young generations, to cherish like critical thinking skills, creativity, even Bitcoin is not going to help them because they will not be able to understand its full potential. So this project is not 100%, about Bitcoin, though it's Bitcoin only, but also about old stuff creative, Yeah. It's it's also serving, as some kind of hub or platform to, promote other family oriented projects.
So, yeah, I was lucky, I can say enough, to to connect with Kiki, to connect with adopting Bitcoin, offering my help with this year's edition, and we will be running a super exciting, super cool space called Bitcoin Paraninos this year that will be free for all the attendees. But, yeah, probably I can talk about it or we can talk about it a little bit like later. And yes, I'm a active user of Blink Wallet. I love it. I've learned about it at Lugano, Lugano's conference, couple of years ago. So I super super, yeah. I support it. It's it's awesome. Yeah. Good.
[00:07:26] Unknown:
I love it. I'd I wanna get to Blink in just a second because I know you guys just got, your Shopify integration going, which is gonna be monster. WooCommerce. Yeah. Or WooCommerce. Sorry. It's it's not are you in Shopify yet? Are you gonna be in Shopify soon?
[00:07:40] Unknown:
Indirectly through VxCPay server. Okay. Okay. There is a bounty out for Shopify integration as well. Cool. So some somebody can earn 2,500,000,000
[00:07:51] Unknown:
if they pick it up. Oh, well, that would be amazing, dude. Oh, my gosh. I know it's like trying to orange pill all these different people from different angles of, like, what they're already using Bitcoin for. So it's like most people, unfortunately, aren't gonna show up at a Bitcoin conference. Right? And so we have to bring Bitcoin to them through all these different ways, whether we're doing a podcast, a virtual summit, whether, you know, we're doing videos, whether we're creating, obviously, you know, content that is relevant for people. But, you know, Kiki, I wanna come back to you. We're gonna keep circling around here, guys. But, what, you know, the idea of, you know, you not knowing anybody, you went to your 1st Bitcoin conference in El Salvador of all places. Right?
What was that like? I mean, I know I went to my 1st Bitcoin conference in Miami, a few years back, and I didn't know anybody, you know, but I talked to a few people online, and I met Fetzky online. And he's like, you gotta go to Natalie's woman's thing and all this stuff. And so it was just like this little nudging of people trying to be supportive, but it still was like, so what was it like? I mean, knowing that, like, wow, there's thousands of people, you know, hundreds, thousands of humans out there that are just rocking and rolling and doing this big mission.
[00:09:07] Unknown:
Yeah. It was, definitely vindicating. I think I had lived the whole experience through Twitter essentially for a year over a year at that point. And so to actually have it, like, physically in person was was incredible. It was I mean, to be honest, it was a little intimidating. Yeah. One of the things that I remember very vividly is I went and got a coffee from Chorizo, and it had the little adopting Bitcoin logo on it. And I took a photo, and I opened up my Instagram. I went to go post it on my Instagram, and then I thought, nobody that I'm connected to on Instagram is my Instagram, and then I thought, nobody that I'm connected to on Instagram is into Bitcoin. Nobody is gonna know what this is. I thought, should I even post this? Does this make me not a Bitcoiner for posting this on Instagram?
And I ended up posting it, and somebody actually was like, oh, you're at a Bitcoin conference. That's so cool. We start chatting about it, whatever. But the interesting thing that I found was the, like, the growth from the first time I went to the second time I went. For me personally, and also just the growth of or the difference in the type of people that were there, the amount of people that were there. I noticed last year, for instance, there was a lot more women there. There was a lot more, like, younger kids there as well. And so it's cool to see the contrast and see where it's come. I wasn't there in the 1st year, but to see from the 2nd year now until what we're what we're going to be seeing in a few weeks.
And for anybody who's nervous about it, whether it's about El Salvador or about Bitcoin conferences, I know that Bitcoin Twitter can be a little hectic sometimes, but honestly, when you meet Bitcoiners in person, it's like, it's just like kindred spirits. You might not have everything a 100% in common, but you have, like, the most important common ground there, and people are super welcoming and super friendly, and you find your your group, your tribe pretty quickly. So
[00:10:56] Unknown:
Yeah. And I think the safety issue was something I was, you know, concerned about the 1st year I went down too because I, I was going by myself. I did end up rooming with somebody, which was cool, but it was still that like, Am I going to get kidnapped? Is everything going to be okay? Obviously, you heard all these old stories about how El Salvador used to be before president Beukele came in. And, you know, so as just a human, not even just a woman, it was like, woah, is this okay? And, of course, all the people in my life were like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm going to a Bitcoin conference. See you later. It's gonna be great. It's a revolution. We're building a new world, and this is, like, ground 0. You know? And it felt right?
And and, you know, sometimes you gotta get out of I mean, not sometimes. You must get out of your comfort zone in order to grow and to change. Like, you don't get to live in the comfort zone and then think you're gonna change the world or change yourself. And so, you know, making that leap is really important. And obviously, doing it mindfully and making sure that, you know, you're not just like, ah, I'm just gonna throw caution to the wind. You wanna be intelligent. But, I know I felt very safe walking around both El Zonte and in San Salvador.
I didn't feel like, uh-oh, something's gonna happen. And that's something I really want listeners to understand. It's like, this is the safest country in Latin America right now because of President Bukele and what he's done. That's crazy. And it's insane. And so I can't say the same about my country. I don't feel safe. I don't feel safe down in my little town. I don't feel safe certainly in a big city here, that's for sure. So I feel like we've got a lot of opportunities to learn and grow and, you know, take pages out of other playbooks around the world. And I think that's the mentality of Bitcoiners. We're open source. We wanna have everybody kind of like best practices and share. So I think that's really, really cool. Shala, I wanna talk to you about the kids zone. You know, when I went there a couple years ago, I got to see, Samantha Duwal speak, And she blew my brains out with her genius and her intelligence. And she got to speak again last year.
I was just like, what? How are kids this smart that are I think she might've been 11 or 12 at the time the 1st year. And I'm just like, woah. This is the coolest thing ever. You know? Let's talk about, like, what you guys are gonna be doing obviously with the kids zone and, the Bitcoin Junior Club and everything. I know you and Kiki are working on that a lot. And I think it's so, so important. And I had brought this up because it's like, as a mom or as anybody, when you go away to a conference, you know, if you have to leave your family behind, there could be some resentment that gets built up. Right? And so, you know, a family that bitcoins together, a family that learns together and grows together, stays together. You know? And then now you've got another layer of common ground as a unit. And so I wanna hear about what you guys have got going on to, you know, do some family skills and family development and letting the kids have their fun. You know, it's gonna be cool. Yeah. Kids, teens, and I can also say mentors because there there will be some parts of the program, that probably we'll talk about in couple of minutes, but some parts of the program that are also designed to,
[00:14:12] Unknown:
not only that will be on not only engaging for, for teenagers, but also for teachers, parents, aunties, uncles. But yeah, to what you said, and just to refer once again to Samantha, I think, it was adopting Bitcoin where for the very first time she was publicly speaking, and then she joined a couple of other conferences. So like, I believe, like, unbelievable girl. I know her in person. We've met couple of times. So, yeah, huge hug, Samantha. If you will listen to it, or watch it later on. So regarding the Bitcoin, Paraninhos. So this is, the entire space that yeah. Thanks to Kiki and, and couple of other projects that are helping us as well, that will be available for like 2 days of the conference. So it's an open, outdoor space. So we will have, program designed in a way that there are some leisure activities, but also like fun and learning, both in Spanish and and English because we can, yeah, we have to target like 2, 2 2 language groups here. And as I said, it's like for kids, teens, but also mentors. So we will have different fun games, quizzes, you know, also some cool, prizes to win at some giveaways.
But everything will be done in a way that even if kids are around, they will be hopefully engaged, and, and, like happy to be to be around to participate in even if there are like panels and then mostly they are with older, guests. We will try to engage with kids as well because at the end of the day, this should be an experience for them to learn, to trigger their brain, to maybe start questioning things. Because as I mentioned, Bitcoin junior club, at least from my perspective, its purpose is not only like this is what, yeah, what we what we have tendency as adults to do like we want to teach kids our own way. We want to teach them and present to them everything we believe it's correct that they have. And I think for example, Samantha is talking about it a lot. They can choose on their own. So let's prepare everything in a way that is engaging and fun for them, but if they wanna do something else in between, yeah, that the entire space will be designed this way. And I think this is kind of like a new trend so to say, like, I'm super happy that adopting Bitcoin is is, organizing it, making it happen because it's a new thing. Couple of day a couple of years ago when I, for the first time, started, joining conferences, that was, yeah, mostly men, first of all, and no problem, but it was kind of like dry and and and completely different energy.
Then sometimes they were like single parents bringing kids, but mostly struggling with what to do with the kids. And now we see all new generation. I can call it like sovereign generation. So many different, age groups, you know, coming. Some of them, they are already Bitcoiners because they are coming from the big big like orange pill families. Some of them are drinking their friends. Some of them are becoming Bitcoiners later on, like before they were like Bitcoin neutral, but their parents are Bitcoiners and then they came, to conferences. They make friendships. So it's all about, like, connecting, exploring, learning,
[00:17:16] Unknown:
about yourself, others. So, yeah, this whole space is, yeah, a lot of work, but but I'm sure we we are going to to deliver an exceptional experience for everyone. So And that's what it's about. It's about the experience. And you you, of course, you nailed it. Obviously, as educators, we all understand there's different, not only adult learning types, but there's different things that are developmentally appropriate for kids as they grow on their journey. And so, you're not gonna bring an 11 year old necessarily. I mean, Samantha's an exception. Her brain is out here. But to sit in boring talks with adults and expect them to get excited and learn. Like, there's different ways. And so I love that you guys are doing this and making it fun and accessible.
And this, again, this keeps the families hopefully more together because some people might be like, well, I can't not I can't go to the conferences now because I need to stay home with my kids. So it's like, well, let's bring your kids, you know. Yeah. And here's like one more maybe reason why to come and why it can attract more people, even like locals.
[00:18:15] Unknown:
Anyway, like, you can enter this space for free if you are, having a ticket to the conference. So you you don't pay anything extra. So why not? Like, what why not to just come even for an hour or 2 the 1st day? If you like it, you can come the other day. I mean, it's why not? It's it's in
[00:18:33] Unknown:
cool extra. So, yeah. It is. And there's so much to do too in El Salvador. It's not just like, okay, I'm in the city or I'm at the beach. I mean, going into the mountains is exceptionally beautiful. I didn't get to make it up to Berlin, which is, you know, that was one of my bucket list things to do, but I didn't get to go last time. So, we'll talk about Berlin in just a second, Kiki, because I want to talk about the farmer's market and I want to talk about the events too. But, Yeah. Thank you, Shala. Okay. Okay. Kamal, you've been at this for for a minute, my friend. Like, what's changed for you over the last few years with, you know, how you see people coming together? Are you seeing more, more traction with people getting their projects going that are, you know, businesses starting to come to El Salvador and people are starting to say, I mean, Kiki's obviously there, right? You know, people have been like, okay, I'm gonna come here. I'm gonna live. I wanna move. I wanna I wanna get my groove on.
How's it been coming for people? How's it been going for people coming from out of the country? And then how is it for, you know, folks in the country with adoption? Like, I wanna talk about those two questions.
[00:19:40] Unknown:
I mean, we we touched on already a couple of the changes. In the 1st year in 2021, it was, you know, very dedicated people, Bitcoiners, but not necessarily with their families or their wives or their children even, you know, like, no. At that time, something like that, it was already courageous to, you know, during COVID with all these travel restrictions and, you know, before the state of extraction that basically made the country secure, to go there. It was you had to be very special breed of adventurous Bitcoiner and a lot of enthusiasm and also situational awareness to understand, you know, the magnitude of what's happening there. And, you know, there were a lot of haters and people talking bad about this and basically trying to say that this is not going anywhere.
And they've all been proven wrong. I mean and, like, spectacularly proven wrong. Right? Like, let's not forget that. There were so many haters and, especially in the bear market, make making fun, you know. Oh, you're all down. How's your investment going? How's your trade going? And stuff. You know, let's not forget that. So all these people are now silent and the country is secure. Like Kiki and Shilali noticed, the rate of women adopting Bitcoin has shot up 22, 23, like, we're at almost parity. It's, it's really, like, except it's remarkable if you look at Bitcoin conferences, how high the rate of women is.
Also, the amount of children and families, you know. I mean, it's not for just because we wish to love. There's real families coming. Like, we do this because there's a need. Right? Like, there there are children coming to adopt in Bitcoin. And so I'm super, super grateful that, Shalale is, you know, with the BTC Junior Club is coming on and, you know, creating this place for, you know, the youngest and our future to to continue what we're doing here. And and they have to be yeah. They they have to learn somewhere. They have to start somewhere. And doing it at adopting Bitcoin in Bitcoin country, you know, there's nothing better than that. Like, I was there with my kids last year, for 6 weeks. I brought them. They were 42.
I mean, my it's my it's it was the 4th political conference of his son. Right? He's only 4. So, okay. The first one, he was still in the womb of my wife.
[00:22:33] Unknown:
Of life.
[00:22:35] Unknown:
He's nuts. Yeah. Okay. So but, you know, it's just really a super family friendly place. And it's also, like, aligns with where we're at, you know, in Bitcoin. And if you look out and zoom out, we have the nerds and libertarians and stuff. We have the early adopters, innovators. You know, now we are, you know, expanding. We're we're crossing the chasm, right, to the early majority of adoption cycles. This is the adoption cycle, you know. There was a BlackRock study that even that even said that, you know, the Bitcoin adoption is going faster than the Internet adoption.
We're only 15 years young, and and look where we are. It's insane. And a lot of people, like, perceive that everything takes time and it's slow and stuff, but it's going so fast. And especially if you look at El Salvador, and I've been, you know, in the 1st year, we didn't have Bitcoin companies that were Salvadoran. We were the 1st Bitcoin company with Bitcoin Beach Wallet. Yeah. And there was no other really on the ground. Well, there were. Maybe Ibex was there as well. And that was basically it in the 1st year, you know. And now look at, our expo hall, you know, it's 80% is Salvadorian Bitcoin companies. And that was also already last year, but it's been gradually, you know, improving and going up. And, you know, the there are just also the satellite events, all the Bitcoiners and events and that have established themselves, like the BTC farmers market, but also the circular economies that have now popped up outside of El Zonte.
Like in Berlin, we've talked about it. There's another one, in Santa Ana currently and also in San Miguel. So, you know, it's happening, and it's only 3 years. And, of course, and it's going into, you know, if if you take away, like, this crazy idea that just because the president said you should be use Bitcoin, everybody will use Bitcoin. You know, it takes some time for people to get accustomed to it, to, you know, see, okay, wow, this thing is still around. And the technology has been improving in the meantime, and education has been, you know, being translated, not only from English to Spanish, but also from Spanish to English. I mean, Bitcoin is also, you know, like, happening in the ground. It's a Salvadoran project that is now impacting Bitcoin adoption globally because it's giving it's it's got it's created the education's Bitcoin standard, basically, you know, that is now being translated and proliferated in many, many languages, with the Bitcoin diploma. So it's beautiful. I couldn't be happier being in the seat where I see so many of these things and get to know so many of these people, amazing people.
You know, you've seen it yourself, Valerie. Like, it's a special kind of people, you know, that come to adopting Bitcoin, and then they go home and and spread that in their communities. And and, yep, everything is going according to plan, and, I couldn't be more excited to be part of this.
[00:26:14] Unknown:
Yeah. I so appreciate all of your effort and your wonderful high vibes, Kamal. Like, it is like when you come to these events, you know, it's like a family reunion. And if you are new to them, you get to be welcomed into the family. It's not a cult, I swear. But it's like, I feel like, you know, I'm going to be friends with you guys forever, you know, because we're on this lifelong mission. And when you meet each other, and when we're doing stuff, and having fun, and, oh, you just ran into someone and you grab a cup of coffee, or, oh, oh, let's go share an Uber. Let's walk over here. We're going to the next thing. And all of a sudden you drop in and you're sitting on the bus with somebody and then you realize you have all this other stuff in common. It's just like that doesn't happen in the digital world.
You know? And it's there's a there's a trust issue in the digital world. And as much as we think like, oh, cool. No. You can see my profile. I'm a good person. No. You need to be skinned in in each other's energy fields as human beings, you know. And and magic happens in those places, you know. And so I think, unfortunately, a lot of people, especially right now, have us versus them vibes going on in the world. And and it's really sad for me to see this whether it's political, whether it's, you know, money, whether it's Bitcoin and shitcoin. You know? It's like, the reality is we need to focus our energy on unifying love and unifying our hearts together. You know? And by doing these kinds of events, it it's, like, exponentially growing that opportunity for us to be humans again. And I think COVID did number on many, many of us, all of us, basically, on the planet and created these sense of mistrust. And it takes time to kind of build that back. And so being able to be in person with each other is one extraordinarily healing way. And so, I think, in addition to the education, it's very healing to come to these conferences and to these events and meetups and being in person and realizing, like, there's actually hope.
There's hope for humanity. And look, you guys are legit. Woo hoo. You know? And I know I always say Bitcoin is hope in action, you know? And it's so important for us to really give ourselves as many doses of that as possible. Kiki, I would love to hear a little bit more about the farmers markets and the circular economies up in Berlin and obviously Alazante, you know, Kamal was mentioning that. For those listening, if you guys don't know what a circular economy is, maybe, Kiki, you can give a little, understanding for the crew.
[00:28:48] Unknown:
Yeah, Absolutely. So just to start off with, there's it's amazing what Bitcoin Beach has done in El Zonte. I spent 2 years two and a half years living in El Zonte and, got to spend some time volunteering with them. But it's also incredible to see how that's being, kind of spreading out throughout the country, and it's also popping up in places you would not expect it in the countryside, in small communities. There's an island called La Peraya, which is a bit of a journey to get to, but if you're here and you have extra time, I definitely recommend that you do.
And the idea is just like, okay, we have this tool available to us. Let's get everybody on board to using it. I'm going to, you know, maybe I'm the one earning an online job in Bitcoin or I'm earning in Fiat. I'm changing that into Bitcoin. But when I go into my community, I'm going to spend my Bitcoin at the vendors who will accept it from there. Then they can go and either pay their suppliers or pay for their needs in life, whether that's business related or their rent or their water or what have you. And to keep the circulation flowing, it's especially interesting being in a country. And maybe one of the reasons it has become successful in this way is because we're in a country where they don't hold their own currency. They're on the US dollar. Right? Mhmm.
And, yeah. But in terms of what's going on across El Salvador as a whole, it's really, exciting. I was actually having a conversation the other day and someone There was a study that was released recently, and it said only 7.5 percent of Salvadorans responded to a poll saying that they actively used bitcoin. And someone put that into a group that I was in and said, oh, this is really disappointing. Like, I thought it would be more, etcetera, etcetera. But what I kind of explained was I think it's happening in places where we kind of least expect it. Like, I was just told about a new kind of, like, a start up hub slash cafe that has opened in Santa Ana by a team of people who have been going to some of the Santa Ana Bitcoin meetups. And Santa Ana is technically, I think, the one of the top five biggest cities in El Salvador, but it's not huge necessarily. There's not a ton of people, and it's kind of far away, like, it's kind of out of the way. If you're a tourist, you're gonna go there for the volcano, to hike the volcano, and that's kind of if most of the time, maybe stop for lunch.
But it's a whole, you know, city and economy, and it's got an amazing history in and of itself, and to see them kind of take a grassroots approach, to kind of take what they have been doing in Berlin and start something up themselves and and feel ownership and pride over that is really incredible. I think a lot of that started with the influence of the Berlin group. So in Ustulutan, which is about 2 and a half hours from San Salvador, 3, 3 and a half from El Zonte into the mountains, Bitcoin Berlin, they have, I think, over a 150 merchants onboarded Wow. Using Bitcoin now. And, like, it's not it's an even smaller place, like, very, very tiny, but everywhere you go, whatever you're looking for, you will either be able to pay in Bitcoin or you will have access to someone who will help you discuss it with the the vendor and people. Every time we go there, there's more more people accepting it. And again, that's, like, very grassroots effort. It's, a couple of locals and a couple of expats who are just kind of on the same mission and ready to, learn and further their own development, but also support their communities and build a community.
And it's been, yeah, amazing to see what's been going on. We have a few, of the representatives from these different areas, that are gonna be at the conference as well, presenting both in English and Spanish, which I think to double down is incredible for some of the Salvadorans that are living in the city and maybe are curious about what's going on. They don't know a whole lot about bitcoin yet. They haven't taken the time, but for them to see, you know, Berlin making headlines because of this or Santa Ana or San Miguel, it's like it's just the network effect.
[00:32:56] Unknown:
Yeah. Big time. And what are you seeing, Kiki, with, like, you know, the transformational vibes or the energy of the people who are living in these communities? Do you feel like there's a different sense of purpose, sense of hope, sense of community, sense of possibility?
[00:33:14] Unknown:
Certainly. Yeah. I think that's one of the, things people always say when they come to El Salvador. They feel you can feel that a weight has been kind of lifted because of the security situation and that people feel that they have a little bit more, hope and opportunity in their lives. I would be lying if I said everything was perfect, right? Like, this is still a country, there's still politics involved, but it is truly, like, one of the most amazing feelings to feel that sense of hope. Whether it is, you know, an abuela selling you, like, a Coke and tamales at the corner store, or you're going to something a little bit more fancy, like, one of the interesting things from my perspective is there's a bunch of new, like, high end luxury restaurants and hotels that are opening up across the country. These things never, like maybe they existed a while back or they existed in a very, very small capacity, but the idea that that
[00:34:09] Unknown:
people are taking their capital and investing in these sorts of things, I think, is, like, really, a bullish sign. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's super bullish, and it's super exciting because you think I I understand tourism and travel and, you know, people coming to visit, those numbers have, you know, blossomed quite a bit, since, since Bitcoin became legal tender and obviously since it's safer. So, of course, it's not gonna feel, as an investor, very comfortable investing in a country or a place that doesn't have sound money and doesn't have sound, you know, security. And so now they've got both. And so I think it's neat to see, you know, this influx of new ideas and people who are fed up with the system where they live. I mean, it keeps getting more and more, there's no perfect system, period. There's no such thing. You know, we're always striving towards a better, existence as humans on Earth. But, you know, some of them keep crumbling and crumbling, and I love to see that, like, cool, where can we go and have this freedom to build, you know, where it's not shunned, but it's actually supported, you know, from the community and from the, the powers that be. So I think that's a really huge testament to people who are out there feeling like, nothing's ever gonna get better. Yes, it is. It definitely is. It is because you make it better, and it is because you find other people who are also on a mission to make it better. And that's what I love about you guys. So And And I would also say, Val, sorry to interrupt you. I would also say, like,
[00:35:35] Unknown:
it's not just about the luxury aspect at all. There's plenty of other aspects as well, but I would to further your point, it's also about the the time preference that you have. Right? When you do have a low time preference and you're able to understand that while you're by interacting with Bitcoin, you are investing in your own future and the future of your communities. El Salvador is like showing proof of that happening. For example, there's, 3 sisters that, were part of the leaders team for Bitcoin Beach and Hope House. And just about 6 months ago, I would say they opened a hostel in El Zonte called Hostel of Myara.
They accept Bitcoin for their stays and they were able to save their money. They work in the medical field. They have a really interesting background and story, but they were able to save their money that they have been earning in Bitcoin and open up this hostel. And this is now another, you know, avenue of income for them to further their lives, to, like, meet new people. They're providing housing for Bitcoiners when they come to stay. Like, it just it it compounds, you know? It's amazing. It's called Hostel Mayara?
[00:36:41] Unknown:
Yes. Okay. I'll put, make sure that goes in the show notes. That's, yeah, this is so inspirational. I love it. And I love, you know, the entrepreneurial spirit that gets activated in people too. And because it's like, oh, I can go do this and then you make it happen. Like I love entrepreneurs and creators. It's such a good vibe for sure. Shella, you are a multifaceted woman with the Bitcoin Film Fest, with your art and with your clothing lines and with the stuff you're doing with the kids. Like, how do you feel like the culture of, art, music, film, and everything is impacting Bitcoin? And how do you see it, you know, moving forward down there in El Salvador? This is gonna be a fun
[00:37:25] Unknown:
Yeah. Actually, I'm very excited to go excited to go there because it's really, like, the country that adopted it, and it's growing finally thanks to it. So it was the one of the countries that was always bullied. And then looking what's happening all around at the western hemisphere, or I can mostly speak from from Europe, like, yeah, it's like a old ship groaning, and then in Salvador, it's just like growing and and and flourishing. And it's maybe it's like a blueprint for everyone. You know? Just not only to prove that it's possible, but it's also how to make some things. I mean, some other neighboring countries in LatAm or in the Central America, they are also waking up. And it's even more exciting that we will be doing this space for kids so they can experience first time. So referring, for example, to Samantha, just one one thing. She said in one of the interviews that she was so happy to join this stage in the adopting Bitcoin, the first or second edition, I think, because Fader mentioned that we are going there. And she said, hey. I never actually adopted Bitcoin. I was born into Bitcoin, but I never adopted it. So I would like to speak, speak in there. So it's amazing that all these kids, like, hopefully, the families will stay couple of days before and, like, they will come before and then stay after, especially for the side events. But that all these kids, they can experience this firsthand. Go and buy something, spend in Bitcoin because it's money at the end of the day. But, to answer your question about culture, I would actually say that Bitcoin is helping the same as it's helping the humanity, giving us hope, reminding us about love, about values, integrity, bringing us together.
The same way it's helping culture. So fiat money, like the broken money, broken society, broken culture. It's also like a huge mafia just to simplify it. Yesterday, we were running a space with a couple of filmmakers like Alana Max, also creator of Indie Hub, was cool thing where we were actually discussing where are the biggest blockers and limitations in the film industry. But it's not only film industry. It's art. It's everything that is surrounding us, and it's actually a vicious circle because first of all, it's blocking you so you are demotivated as a creator. 2nd, the outcome of any kind of sphere is rotten. It's it's spoiled. It's full of propaganda.
And even if you have good intentions as creator, you cannot do that. First of all, you cannot make money. You have inflation and stuff. 2nd, you are, restricted or, yeah, you know that you cannot even speak loud some ideas because they will never become reality. And then as a consumer, you are just absorbing the shallow trash, so to say stuff. So your life is even more stress stressful, more miserable. So it's it's just very sad, you know, and kids are grown grown and born into this. Actually, many people gave up on having kids these days. Right? This is another very sad thing. So what we are doing now with adopting Bitcoin is Bitcoin bringing maybe locals, bringing the entire families to visit El Salvador, experience this, yeah, amazing country, very small but so brave firsthand.
Join this space, learn, make friendships because kids and teens, they can also make great friends maybe, you know, in there. What I'm trying to do with Bitcoin Junior Clap as well and all the other things that you you mentioned, Valerie. Thank you. It's just to show people that, yes, we can do that. We are building a parallel world that is better. Everyone is welcome. If you are just a freedom seeker, there is a space to come to join, to keep us like, to help us building these things. So and to especially inspire younger generations that are the most prone to learn the bet patterns and to be,
[00:41:04] Unknown:
let's say, growing into very miserable adults. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's so important. I know I don't know if you guys have read Sub Bunny's book, The Hidden Cost of Money. It's so good, But really thinking about how the fiat system is tearing the families apart and creating these long term mental health issues, for the adults and the kids. And it's really, you know, when people start to really take time to connect the dots and realize it's like it's not just this, this, or that. I mean, when you're building the society on a foundation of toxic fiat soil, like, only cancerous things can grow, you know? And so it's like we have this beautiful sound money now, and we have this opportunity to start thinking of regenerative money, regenerative families, regenerative societies, you know? And I know, Kiki, you've got beef back better with grass fed Salvadorian beef. So I think what's neat is when people start to think about the interconnectivity in the system that we're in, it's like it's so important to understand these things because a lot of people will go and, you know, try to take pills and not learn skills and do all the stuff that is detrimental to themselves because they have the short term mindset, you know. And so, that's what's interesting about Bitcoin. You know, we're okay to be a little patient, you know? And so I think raising children with that mindset and getting out of the instant, instant, instant gratification is gonna be very, very healthy for the longevity of humanity on earth.
So, it's just fascinating how the rabbit holes keep going in with the health and the wellness and the creativity and the art and the money and the family, everything. So, Kamal, I want to ask you, I'm going to bring up the website right now, and I'm going to bring up some of the, like, you've got so many speakers here and I'd love for you to share, like, because I know this isn't like some, oh, we're making a whole bunch of money here doing this. I know how expensive it is to put these, events on. Can you guys see the screen? Yeah. You can see the screen.
So, I mean, the tickets, you guys have got tickets for people who are, you know, local Salvadorans that are very affordable, $21 You've got obviously some tickets, prices going up for regular tickets and then, you know, some VIP stuff. So I think that's so great. You guys have got the best sponsors. I love all of these guys. What's Bebop? I don't know Bebop.
[00:43:25] Unknown:
Bebop is a really cool company from Switzerland. They are developing open source software. You can think of it a little bit like Bizzie Pay Server. Okay. Less, but more for artists and creatives. Oh, cool. Okay. I got you. So it's very easy to set up and the customization is really cool. You make you can make your shop, you know, just it doesn't just work technically, like the space over, but it also has this component where you really can, you know, host it yourself and and and style it really beautifully. So I'm really curious to to see those workshops from Lionel and his team of Bebop. Amazing.
[00:44:11] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. That's gonna be so cool. And then check out all your speakers, guys. Like, you've got a presidential candidate, Maya. She came on the show. I got to have her on a few months back. I mean, you guys have got some seriously hard hitters here. Max and Stacy, of course, Tone, everybody, Nick, Giacomo. Yay, Efraat's going to be there. Dusan, oh my God. Dusan. See, okay. Here's an example of why you have to go to the conferences, guys. I remember we were at the speakers dinner and Dusan and I were waiting, you know, because there's like the restroom, whatever. And we're just like waiting in line and just be had the best connection. I'm like, I love this dude. He's so cool, you know, and just really happy. He's great. He is. He's such a just, oh, yum. Yeah. And IDH is also doing many great things in in their,
[00:44:59] Unknown:
native country, like in Honduras. What they are doing, it's also incredible.
[00:45:03] Unknown:
It's so cool. And and, again, that's another, you know, example of building in the circular economy vibes. I mean, look at all these guys. You've got, Svetzky, Luke, Dennis. Oh my god. Alejandra. Miss Bitcoin. Oh my god. She's the best. Andre's coming. I have so much fun. I wanna come and hug all of you guys. This is you guys, seriously, whoever's watching this, you if you're ever thinking you want to go to, El Salvador, you must go. It's just gonna change your life. It is so oh, look at all these wonderful human there's Samantha. Oh my gosh. She's the best. You guys, seriously,
[00:45:39] Unknown:
I'm gonna miss you guys so much. I'm gonna cry. So you you seem like you are showing. We will be missing you as well, but I I'm sure we will feel your energy and we will be sending you photos, you know. But you were showing Samantha. So actually there are a couple of so we will have not only at the Bitcoin Paraneos, not only panels, with adults, but especially because the program is designed for kids. There will be also like software panels where kids and teenagers can join. So Samantha is one of them, but there will be also other awesome teams, sharing their experiences. Like one of the panels is called like taking orange peel. So how they life change, you know, like just talking life, normal, basic things, but in between trying to also express what and how they see this whole Bitcoin thing.
And among many of these speakers, there are amazing educators and also teenagers or people young adults who were just recently also Orangeville, like, if you scroll, many of them, like, locals from Salvador as well. So it's incredible.
[00:46:38] Unknown:
I think, you know and getting the perspective of the young people is is a game changer because, you know, we need to know, like, what are they thinking about? And, you know, I remember when Samantha was on my show after I met her because I was like, oh my gosh, I really I would love to learn more about you and interview you. And she, you know, I was like, what can us adults do to support the younger generation? You know, how can we be in service because we've obviously made kind of a giant mess of everything? And what can we do? You know? And and it was just like, let us have the mic, Let us talk. You know, listen to us. Like, we want you guys to hear us.
So I think, you know, giving them stages, giving them places to present, giving them places to gather is like, it's such an important thing. This is so great. I'm just so glad you guys are doing the young zone, the youth zone. It's going to be great. And then let's talk about the side events. Like I'll scroll through some of these, you guys, because I know we're running on time here, but, this is going to be going, you said like from 10th to 16th, and then the following weekend, there's going to be something in Berlin. So I'll let you guys just kind of share like what's going on. And I'll sort of slowly scroll here.
[00:47:55] Unknown:
If you wanna start and then like Yeah.
[00:47:57] Unknown:
No problem. I mean, it's just so cool. Like, me premiere Bitcoin graduation, you guys. Like, that's such a cool thing to get. If you can get to go see these kids who are, you know, studying and learning. You've got bit devs.
[00:48:09] Unknown:
Mhmm. Oh my gosh. Yeah. The BitDevs is, almost 1 year old now. It's started by Nicola Berti. Every city should have their BitDevs, you know, technical talks, getting together, chat time house rules, talking, like straight up Bitcoin technology, you know. So San Salvador has that too now. It's been going on, and there's going to be a special one for adopting Bitcoin. Super stoked. Yeah. That's great. Great participants. Very high, like, Bitcoin core developers, amazing wizards and cryptologists that now have settled in El Salvador, you know, because it's a Bitcoin country. They go there and talk Bitcoin.
[00:48:50] Unknown:
It's so cool. And and, like, again, anybody listening, it's like there's something for everybody. It's not just like, oh, you have to be a cryptographer to go to a Bitcoin conference. No. You don't. Like, you can be an artist. You can be a creative. You can be a DJ. You can be a podcaster. You can be an entrepreneur or anything. And so, that's super cool. So this is, sovereignty studios. That's Mike Ruiz. Right? Exactly. Yeah. I've been following some of his stuff. He looks like he's doing great stuff down there. Oh, Mujeres in Bitcoin. Who's Oh, who's doing this? Yay.
Reina Chica. Yes. Are you guys all doing that? I wanna grab.
[00:49:27] Unknown:
We need to make, like, a cut out of you. Oh my god. I know. Totally.
[00:49:33] Unknown:
Not a blow up doll. That would be weird. And the UN conference, you guys, tell everybody what the UN conference is. That was one of my favorite things. And I got to go to the one in Portugal and obviously one in, El Salvador last year. Tell whoever wants to share with the UN conferences.
[00:49:52] Unknown:
I haven't had a chance to go, Kamal.
[00:49:55] Unknown:
Yeah. I was at the one in Madeira, and I haven't managed to go to the previous My First Bitcoin, Unconferences. We've had them in the last few years, I think. But basically, it's an Unconference. An Unconference is not scheduled. You go there, and then there's a general session in the beginning, and and everybody just who wants who has something to share with other Bitcoiners, they just, you know, propose that topic. It puts gets put on a cart, they get scheduled on the spot, and, yep, and then people can choose to go to that session. Right? It's just made up on the spot, very spontaneous, organized chaos or unorganized, you know, ad conference. It's, it's great. And it's all education focused from people, you know, that are really thinking day and night about how to best explain Bitcoin to various audiences.
[00:50:52] Unknown:
Yeah. It's a great it's a great, great experience too. I like that too because it's it's casual, but it's still it's semi organized, but it's like it's peer to peer, you know, and it's everybody gets to choose, like, oh, cool, we're gonna vote that this panel actually is gonna happen. I think it's really, really a neat way to gather people together to talk and have a little consensus about what's what's the most exciting thing. Almost like you what are those upvote things on? Is it on Reddit? Or what are those things where you upvote stuff? It's sort of like that. Okay. And then, Dirty Coin. Oh, my gosh. Alana, she's a bomb. I love this film. You guys have to check that out for sure. Of course, the speakers dinner for everybody who's showing up. The after party.
I'm gonna miss it. I will be there on the dance floor with you guys. If you see glow sticks, it might be me in the corner. But after you guys put on the best parties. And then Bitcoin Beach, tell everybody about Bitcoin Beach and El Zonte.
[00:51:47] Unknown:
Yeah. So you go. Yeah. Go ahead. No. You left you left there. What should I say? I mean
[00:51:53] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, they're they're ground 0. Right? Like, they've they've been, hitting the ground really hard in terms of adoption, education, community building, from, you know, they had, surf pair at Totos, like the the young kids surfing program that we also spoke about Bitcoin in, and it was also educational and a good opportunity for local kids to to connect and to learn and develop skills of all kinds. But then they've been partnering whether it's with me from your Bitcoin or with the government on education across the country.
Right? So they've been monumental. And for the past couple of years, everybody has always enjoyed, myself included, going down to, El Zonte for the the kind of unofficial 3rd day, if you will, of the conference. This year, I know that they've got a bunch of stuff planned. I think they're actually gonna do a 2 day thing. I know they're planning on doing, like, a gastronomic festival. Usually, there's a pupusa eating contest, which I would highly recommend you a visit or you get to experience, because it's pretty interesting. Surf competitions, like, enjoy the beach, enjoy getting to know Bitcoin Beach, the people that live there, the companies, that sort of thing.
[00:53:07] Unknown:
Yeah. Looking forward to that one. Yeah. It's it's so cool. I know we stayed an extra couple days, and it's so worth it, like, you know, to go visit and cruise around and see what's happening with everybody. Oh, yay. There's everybody. It it's such a cool vibe for sure. And then, okay, they're doing a Freedom Riders. What is that? They're doing by bike a motorcycle tour for a week. Alan is a bomb. He's gonna be doing that. Oh my gosh. How fun. Pretty cool. I I wish I rode a motorcycle. I know. Well, that's That would be such a cool place to do it, like, going near the volcanoes and the ocean. And, oh, my god. Mhmm. How cool. Okay. Freedom Convoy. What is this? San Salvador to El Zonte? Is this just everybody's, like, is it still is it motorcycle also again? Is that I believe I think you rent the bikes. Yeah. Involved.
[00:53:53] Unknown:
I think, I think I think it's, yeah, a genuine convoy.
[00:53:57] Unknown:
Yeah. A convoy. But you guys are too all too young, but there's an old old, who was in it? Not not Burt Reynolds. It's an old movie from the seventies convoy. It was about truckers and stuff. It was so ridiculous. Oh my god. Luke. Yay. He's doing a Bitcoin boot camp. Luke's awesome. That's gonna be so cool. Nostra Day. Yeah. I heard oh, and Tanya. Yeah. She's gonna be on the show next week. This is so cool. I love that Nostra is gonna be there. You guys are gonna be learning, you know, sharing what Noster is with everybody. How are people using Noster down there in El Salvador, Kiki?
To be honest, not yet. Not yet. Okay. Cool. Maybe Tanya and this whole traveling Noster booth will help. Exactly.
[00:54:40] Unknown:
Exactly.
[00:54:41] Unknown:
So cool. And, oh, yay. Rowatan. Oh, gosh. That's gonna be amazing. You guys, this is so much stuff. I'm so impressed. Like, this is keeps this is, like, 10 times more than last year. Holy shit. Oh, yeah. Oh my gosh. And I feel like we keep getting messages,
[00:54:59] Unknown:
like, every couple of days. Hey. We're doing this. Like, can we add this? Or yeah. It's great. Gosh. In Bitcoin Lake in Guatemala, they're gonna have a thing there too. So,
[00:55:08] Unknown:
wow, you guys. This is incredible.
[00:55:11] Unknown:
Like, I'm blown away. I'm just seriously blown away. Yeah. Get yourself Sorry, Vala. I should put a little asterisk on my comment about Noster because, on like a large scale, maybe as we see on the Internet, is the adoption the same? Maybe not. But there is like a group, illuminodes who are working to bring, Noster into, El Salvador in any kind of way. There's a specific, health protocol that's being introduced. There's gonna be some some talks about that and, like owning your medical data. And so it's it's small, but it's mighty, and it's growing.
[00:55:51] Unknown:
I love it. Yeah. I I remember when I went not last year, but it was the 1st year, and there was, it was like a lightning showcase for these kids. And, oh gosh, Kamal. Where was it? We all took I don't remember if you were there, but we took these buses. And we went to this place, and it was at a school. And they had, like, this fair, and they wanted all of us to judge the kids in their lightning projects. And there was something about medical information or getting your prescriptions using lightning. And it was just it's so neat to see these kids building on lightning 2 years ago even. You know? And I'm just like, holy cow. I keep waiting to Just more things are gonna keep blossoming here.
So I wanna make sure everybody knows where to find you guys and how to get a hold of you. I'm gonna put this is gonna be a whole bunch of stuff on the screen, guys. So if you're listening, you're not gonna see it. But I'll have everything in the show notes so you can find everything, of course, on YouTube and my channel. But okay, so what's Beef Back Better? Tell everybody, Kiki, really quick, what's Beef Back Better?
[00:56:50] Unknown:
A 100% Salvadoran grass fed, pastured beef. These are the happiest cows I've ever seen in my whole life. And it is distributed directly to your door or through a few stores, in San Salvador.
[00:57:03] Unknown:
Beautiful. And, obviously, adopting Bitcoin, you can go to adopting bitcoin.org. You can use djval and get 10% off your tickets. The tickets are going up November 1st, so go get your tickets, guys. And they all the money goes towards education and making this event possible. This is not people are not getting rich again from any of these events. Not a single Bitcoin conference are giant moneymakers. They're always either losses or breakevens. Nobody's walking away with, like, another a 1000 sat or a 1000 Bitcoins. So so the it really I know how much effort goes into the events. They're labors of beautiful love by all the people. So, so definitely show up and get that going. And then, obviously, you've got Bitcoin Farmers Market. That's you guys are doing that in Al Zonte and Berlin, and then you've got another one too. And I have the link tree's up here for you guys to check out.
Bitcoin for youth.com. That's Shailah Shailah's thing, and we're gonna have you guys follow any place else besides x that you they people should be following you. This is where you can follow Kamal at Pretty Flaco. What what does this mean, Kamal? What's Pretty Flaco mean?
[00:58:09] Unknown:
Pretty flaco
[00:58:10] Unknown:
Yeah. Means
[00:58:12] Unknown:
the handsome skinny guy in Spanish.
[00:58:16] Unknown:
In in in what? In what language? Spanish.
[00:58:18] Unknown:
In Spanish? Flaco means skinny in Spanish. Yeah. Flaco is pretty. Pretty is pretty, you know, just with a little orthography mistake.
[00:58:29] Unknown:
You are the beautiful skinny guy, Kamal. I love it. Yeah. Shala, they can find you on x@aza_21m, and Kiki, your Bitcoin babe. Bay bae. Let's go with it with the y at the end, and you guys can go to x and follow adopting, BTC to make sure you guys give everybody a follow. It helps, you know, to get the word out and cross pollinate each other's social media so that people can start understanding
[00:58:54] Unknown:
what the hype is happening. All of us is also on Nostra. Just difficult to put the end pubs here. I know. The end pubs are weird. Yeah. It's also there. And if I may just say because other people who are helping us at least to to to to make this happen, they are not here, on this live session. But there is like Ian, he is also one of the speakers, Econo, and Econo kids. Yeah. Exactly. And there are yeah. So many amazing people like helping, supporting, sending some materials, being there, volunteering. So I just wanted to before we finish and before I forget, I just wanted to, like, yeah, say thank you everyone. Like, Kiki is putting a tremendous, work, like, putting a lot. But, yeah, a lot of other people are also helping. So, yeah, thank you. Takes a village.
[00:59:39] Unknown:
It does take a giant orange village. It's pretty cool. Any final thoughts for you guys? Like, any I wanna go around for each of you, like, for anybody who's thinking about coming or is coming, you know, any final thoughts? I'll start with you, Kiki.
[00:59:52] Unknown:
Oh, boy. Be open minded. Be open minded, whether that's in your conversations with people and what you see and what you expect from the country. Just come in with an open mind and an open heart and, try new things. Like you said, it's always important to put yourself a little bit out of your comfort zone, stay aware of yourself and your surroundings and whatnot. But, it's a safe place, tons of really interesting people from all different countries, all walks of life. Just come in with an open mind and an open heart, and you are going to have a great time.
[01:00:28] Unknown:
I'd love it. That's great, great advice. What about you, Shala?
[01:00:32] Unknown:
Yeah. I was here, like, invite every younger members of families to come with their parents. Also, if there are some teenagers coming, maybe ask, some peers, some colleagues, friends, to join because anyway, it's, if I'm not mistaken, anyone who is under 18 can attend adopting Bitcoin for free. I mean, this is incredible. So Wow. Do that, people. So, yes, I want to see a lot of teenagers and kids, just to hack everyone and and to learn and to explore together. So, yeah, hopefully, it's going to happen.
[01:01:03] Unknown:
Yeah. That's gonna be incredible. Thank you. Alright, Kamal. You got any words of wisdom for folks thinking about coming? Maybe they're on the fence or that they're already coming.
[01:01:13] Unknown:
Yeah. Find a nice partner, make a family. And if you've done all that, you know, come to Adapting with COIN. Also, if you want to do all these things, come to Adapting with COIN.
[01:01:27] Unknown:
I know. Right? You know?
[01:01:30] Unknown:
Look, it's, I mean, kids under the age of 18, free admission. Right? I just wanted to highlight that. We're a special breed, Bitcoiners. You know, we we agree on we know so much about each other already before we've met. We agree on so many things already before we've even talked. And, and, you know, that is a basis for, you know, the best of the relationships that you can build from that basis on. But even if you don't build anything on top of it, it's pretty fucking awesome. And, you know, it's, if you think Bitcoin is something on Twitter or on Reddit or on YouTube, you have no idea until you come to Adapting Bitcoin or another, you know, Bitcoin conference that keeps it real. Because there's Bitcoin conference and Bitcoin conferences.
I would I would like to emphasize that. Right? The people adopting Bitcoin, it's, you know, the real builders, the real revolution, and not people who think they're super important and have something to gain by shooting their backs. Right? Like, Bitcoin doesn't have leaders, and the people at adopting Bitcoin, they're humble, and they're hard workers, and they're absolutely beautiful people. In my experience so far, it's been always an absolute honor to to be there with these people. The connections that I've made have been amazing. And not forget also, we've had, you know, some presentations that people still talk about today because they have originated at Adopting Bitcoin. Not because they originate, but that's where they originated. Right?
There are there are projects, and this year is not going to be different. There's really a packed program. I hope we can come out today or tomorrow or latest Sunday with the 0.1 version of the schedule. It's going to blow people's minds out, and that's why I'm glad that we talked about all the satellite events, because, yeah, already extensively. But, yeah, that's a massive program, awaiting in a beautiful setting, in the dry season, lush green, surf, good food, good people, sunny weather in November. You know, anybody who needs a break from the post election craziness going on, you know, needs a break from US politics. I I can't imagine a bit better place to be at. So, yeah, the future is looking really indeed bright, in El Salvador.
And not everything is perfect, but it's going in this direction up. And and when and when when it does that, you have this positive reinforcement, and people have a good mood and then approach things in a playful manner. And when you have play, you have fun. And when you have fun, you know, good things happen, and and things turn out extra, extra beautifully. And and this is what's, you know, what's going on. And if you if people are curious how it looks like, like, I think adopting Bitcoin is, like, really, the best time to to come because it's just magnified massively.
[01:04:57] Unknown:
Yeah. It is. And I love it it does. It magnifies. And I always say raise your vibe, rock your missions. And, you know, being around these people, you all of us, you know, Bitcoiners and Bitcoiners in training, everyone will be a Bitcoiner one day. It does help you raise your vibe. It's like medicine for your soul. And so, get your tushies down there. And if you're wondering like, should I only stay for the length of the conference? No. Stay longer. Go early, stay later. You will have FOMO if you have to leave early because you're going to say, shoot, I wish I could go here. And so, if you're, if you're blessed enough to have another day, 2 days, however many days, like, stay. And go stay in the local areas too. You don't have to stay in the big stuff. Like, go support where locals are and go get to understand, like, what's happening down there because it's such cool vibes for sure.
I'm so grateful you guys came and spent all of your time and energy sharing this with us. And obviously, all the energy and work you're doing to make this going to be such a cool event, educational and fun and party. It's going to be great. So, I will be there in spirit in a little cutout version of Val. So we're and then we're also you guys, we're gonna be doing a Bitcoin for Families virtual summit. And several other, companies are gonna be there. We're gonna be trying to, you know, help support some other Bitcoin companies. It's, you know, it's a value for value summit, so it's for free. We'll be doing it on December 7th. But more importantly, before that, get yourselves down to, El Salvador. Go to adopting bitcoin.org and get your tickets before there's no more tickets left. Let's see. Someone else said something into the conference. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, so I love you guys. Wishing you all peace, love, and so much warm aloha. Thanks everybody for tuning in. And, we'll see you guys next time. And thanks again.
Mhmm. Aloha.
Aloha, love tribe. Welcome to the show. I have 3 of the coolest people here on planet Earth who are going to be welcoming you guys down south to El Salvador for adopting Bitcoin November 15th 16th. This is Kamal, Kiki, and Shala. Welcome, you guys. It's so good to see you. Thanks. So much FOMO. I wanna, like, fly myself down there in in a month and come visit and have some fun. How's everybody doing? This is so cool, and I'm so glad to get to talk to y'all because you guys have some new things coming up for adopting Bitcoin this year. So, who I wanna you know, Kamal, why don't well, let's have you go first because I've been, you've been bringing me to to Adopteen for the last couple years. Unfortunately, this year, I'm not able to come down. So I'm gonna miss you, brother. But, yeah. I'll let you let everybody know who you are and what's up.
[00:01:23] Unknown:
Yeah. Thanks for having us, Valerie. It's really sad. You've been there for the past few years and always been this, you know, temple of good vibes radiating all over the place, to everybody. So you will be dearly missed. But we'll nevertheless, we're on a mission. Right? And, we have a whole country that has a lot of Bitcoin as legal tender, And we're we're and it's the year at we're we're already doing the 4th adoption. So my name is Kamal. I'm I'm one of the co organizers, since the beginning. And, yeah, usually, I work at Galloy and on Blynk, which is a Bitcoin lightning wallet for mobile phones that almost anybody can use.
I mean, Americans can't use it, because, you know, regulatory requirements, so we have to be compliant as a custodial service. But, yeah, it's, it's a wallet that everybody uses, and it's pretty cool because it onboards a lot of people and it's the wallet that, you know, the people in Bitcoin Beach, it was formerly known as Bitcoin Beach Wallet, used to get their Bitcoin Circular Economy project basically started, and, which ultimately then inspired the president, Nayy Bukele, to actually adopt this magic Internet money for all 7,000,000 saltedorens. So, yeah, that's what I do when I don't work on adopting Bitcoin. And, I'm based in Istanbul, father, husband, and, yeah, I'm looking forward to, go back to Bitcoin country again to see lots of really cool Bitcoiners and talks and sessions and workshops and everything that you know from adopting Bitcoin.
[00:03:28] Unknown:
I know you're a rock star, Kamal. You've put such a great event together, and it keeps growing and gathering all of these wonderful humans. So, Kiki, why don't you go next?
[00:03:38] Unknown:
Yeah. Awesome. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. I'm Kiki. I grew up in the Toronto area in Canada. My whole professional background is, like, all in restaurants, probably pretty Fiat, like, high time preference activities. And, you know, during 2020, my partner who's from Australia, his visa was coming up, and we were like, we can't stay here anymore. I kinda lost my direction of my career, and we actually went to Mexico first. We spent 6 months in Oaxaca, Mexico. It was beautiful, like, amazing place to visit, but we did not find any like minded people. We didn't find any Bitcoiners.
And it wasn't until I moved to El Salvador in April, two and a half years ago that I finally met another Bitcoiner other than my boyfriend for the first time. That was pretty exciting. Tried to They're real. They're real. I swear, mom. Tried to, you know, figure out what I was gonna do with my life. I was working online, started doing some community activities with Hope House and Bitcoin Beach, went to my first ever Bitcoin conference. It was adopting Bitcoin 2022. I remember sitting there, like, being like, wow, this is so cool. I don't know anyone. Like, I'm pretty new to the space. Like, I wonder where this will take me, you know. And fast forward now to 2 years later, and, my partner and I are running the Bitcoin Farmers Market.
We do it twice a week or twice a month, sorry, in Al Zonte and once a month in Berlin, Ozalotan. He also owns and operates, Beef Back Better, which is a local Salvador and grass fed beef business. So I haven't we haven't strayed too far from our roots, but trying to find, you know, like, the sound food to, like, accompany the sound money aspect. And now being a part of the adopting Bitcoin project has been incredible. A lot of work, but, like, the best kind of work, and we get to meet some amazing people. And, yeah, I'm excited to to get it all together and make it happen in 1 month.
[00:05:44] Unknown:
It's gonna be so good. I'm so glad. It's so you're so lucky to be there. Awesome. Okay. Shala, you're next.
[00:05:52] Unknown:
Yeah. Thank you as well for for having me for having us here. Thank you. Yeah. So I guess maybe some of you might know me from Bitcoin Film Fest because this is one of the projects that my heart is beating or for which and with which my heart is beating. But, this year I also started my, my own project or my private hobby project, which is focused on kids, families. It's called Bitcoin Junior Club. It's, mostly, about Bitcoin education, financial, freedom, but I would say, and this is what I strongly believe in if we don't think for ourselves. So if we don't help the young generations, to cherish like critical thinking skills, creativity, even Bitcoin is not going to help them because they will not be able to understand its full potential. So this project is not 100%, about Bitcoin, though it's Bitcoin only, but also about old stuff creative, Yeah. It's it's also serving, as some kind of hub or platform to, promote other family oriented projects.
So, yeah, I was lucky, I can say enough, to to connect with Kiki, to connect with adopting Bitcoin, offering my help with this year's edition, and we will be running a super exciting, super cool space called Bitcoin Paraninos this year that will be free for all the attendees. But, yeah, probably I can talk about it or we can talk about it a little bit like later. And yes, I'm a active user of Blink Wallet. I love it. I've learned about it at Lugano, Lugano's conference, couple of years ago. So I super super, yeah. I support it. It's it's awesome. Yeah. Good.
[00:07:26] Unknown:
I love it. I'd I wanna get to Blink in just a second because I know you guys just got, your Shopify integration going, which is gonna be monster. WooCommerce. Yeah. Or WooCommerce. Sorry. It's it's not are you in Shopify yet? Are you gonna be in Shopify soon?
[00:07:40] Unknown:
Indirectly through VxCPay server. Okay. Okay. There is a bounty out for Shopify integration as well. Cool. So some somebody can earn 2,500,000,000
[00:07:51] Unknown:
if they pick it up. Oh, well, that would be amazing, dude. Oh, my gosh. I know it's like trying to orange pill all these different people from different angles of, like, what they're already using Bitcoin for. So it's like most people, unfortunately, aren't gonna show up at a Bitcoin conference. Right? And so we have to bring Bitcoin to them through all these different ways, whether we're doing a podcast, a virtual summit, whether, you know, we're doing videos, whether we're creating, obviously, you know, content that is relevant for people. But, you know, Kiki, I wanna come back to you. We're gonna keep circling around here, guys. But, what, you know, the idea of, you know, you not knowing anybody, you went to your 1st Bitcoin conference in El Salvador of all places. Right?
What was that like? I mean, I know I went to my 1st Bitcoin conference in Miami, a few years back, and I didn't know anybody, you know, but I talked to a few people online, and I met Fetzky online. And he's like, you gotta go to Natalie's woman's thing and all this stuff. And so it was just like this little nudging of people trying to be supportive, but it still was like, so what was it like? I mean, knowing that, like, wow, there's thousands of people, you know, hundreds, thousands of humans out there that are just rocking and rolling and doing this big mission.
[00:09:07] Unknown:
Yeah. It was, definitely vindicating. I think I had lived the whole experience through Twitter essentially for a year over a year at that point. And so to actually have it, like, physically in person was was incredible. It was I mean, to be honest, it was a little intimidating. Yeah. One of the things that I remember very vividly is I went and got a coffee from Chorizo, and it had the little adopting Bitcoin logo on it. And I took a photo, and I opened up my Instagram. I went to go post it on my Instagram, and then I thought, nobody that I'm connected to on Instagram is my Instagram, and then I thought, nobody that I'm connected to on Instagram is into Bitcoin. Nobody is gonna know what this is. I thought, should I even post this? Does this make me not a Bitcoiner for posting this on Instagram?
And I ended up posting it, and somebody actually was like, oh, you're at a Bitcoin conference. That's so cool. We start chatting about it, whatever. But the interesting thing that I found was the, like, the growth from the first time I went to the second time I went. For me personally, and also just the growth of or the difference in the type of people that were there, the amount of people that were there. I noticed last year, for instance, there was a lot more women there. There was a lot more, like, younger kids there as well. And so it's cool to see the contrast and see where it's come. I wasn't there in the 1st year, but to see from the 2nd year now until what we're what we're going to be seeing in a few weeks.
And for anybody who's nervous about it, whether it's about El Salvador or about Bitcoin conferences, I know that Bitcoin Twitter can be a little hectic sometimes, but honestly, when you meet Bitcoiners in person, it's like, it's just like kindred spirits. You might not have everything a 100% in common, but you have, like, the most important common ground there, and people are super welcoming and super friendly, and you find your your group, your tribe pretty quickly. So
[00:10:56] Unknown:
Yeah. And I think the safety issue was something I was, you know, concerned about the 1st year I went down too because I, I was going by myself. I did end up rooming with somebody, which was cool, but it was still that like, Am I going to get kidnapped? Is everything going to be okay? Obviously, you heard all these old stories about how El Salvador used to be before president Beukele came in. And, you know, so as just a human, not even just a woman, it was like, woah, is this okay? And, of course, all the people in my life were like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm going to a Bitcoin conference. See you later. It's gonna be great. It's a revolution. We're building a new world, and this is, like, ground 0. You know? And it felt right?
And and, you know, sometimes you gotta get out of I mean, not sometimes. You must get out of your comfort zone in order to grow and to change. Like, you don't get to live in the comfort zone and then think you're gonna change the world or change yourself. And so, you know, making that leap is really important. And obviously, doing it mindfully and making sure that, you know, you're not just like, ah, I'm just gonna throw caution to the wind. You wanna be intelligent. But, I know I felt very safe walking around both El Zonte and in San Salvador.
I didn't feel like, uh-oh, something's gonna happen. And that's something I really want listeners to understand. It's like, this is the safest country in Latin America right now because of President Bukele and what he's done. That's crazy. And it's insane. And so I can't say the same about my country. I don't feel safe. I don't feel safe down in my little town. I don't feel safe certainly in a big city here, that's for sure. So I feel like we've got a lot of opportunities to learn and grow and, you know, take pages out of other playbooks around the world. And I think that's the mentality of Bitcoiners. We're open source. We wanna have everybody kind of like best practices and share. So I think that's really, really cool. Shala, I wanna talk to you about the kids zone. You know, when I went there a couple years ago, I got to see, Samantha Duwal speak, And she blew my brains out with her genius and her intelligence. And she got to speak again last year.
I was just like, what? How are kids this smart that are I think she might've been 11 or 12 at the time the 1st year. And I'm just like, woah. This is the coolest thing ever. You know? Let's talk about, like, what you guys are gonna be doing obviously with the kids zone and, the Bitcoin Junior Club and everything. I know you and Kiki are working on that a lot. And I think it's so, so important. And I had brought this up because it's like, as a mom or as anybody, when you go away to a conference, you know, if you have to leave your family behind, there could be some resentment that gets built up. Right? And so, you know, a family that bitcoins together, a family that learns together and grows together, stays together. You know? And then now you've got another layer of common ground as a unit. And so I wanna hear about what you guys have got going on to, you know, do some family skills and family development and letting the kids have their fun. You know, it's gonna be cool. Yeah. Kids, teens, and I can also say mentors because there there will be some parts of the program, that probably we'll talk about in couple of minutes, but some parts of the program that are also designed to,
[00:14:12] Unknown:
not only that will be on not only engaging for, for teenagers, but also for teachers, parents, aunties, uncles. But yeah, to what you said, and just to refer once again to Samantha, I think, it was adopting Bitcoin where for the very first time she was publicly speaking, and then she joined a couple of other conferences. So like, I believe, like, unbelievable girl. I know her in person. We've met couple of times. So, yeah, huge hug, Samantha. If you will listen to it, or watch it later on. So regarding the Bitcoin, Paraninhos. So this is, the entire space that yeah. Thanks to Kiki and, and couple of other projects that are helping us as well, that will be available for like 2 days of the conference. So it's an open, outdoor space. So we will have, program designed in a way that there are some leisure activities, but also like fun and learning, both in Spanish and and English because we can, yeah, we have to target like 2, 2 2 language groups here. And as I said, it's like for kids, teens, but also mentors. So we will have different fun games, quizzes, you know, also some cool, prizes to win at some giveaways.
But everything will be done in a way that even if kids are around, they will be hopefully engaged, and, and, like happy to be to be around to participate in even if there are like panels and then mostly they are with older, guests. We will try to engage with kids as well because at the end of the day, this should be an experience for them to learn, to trigger their brain, to maybe start questioning things. Because as I mentioned, Bitcoin junior club, at least from my perspective, its purpose is not only like this is what, yeah, what we what we have tendency as adults to do like we want to teach kids our own way. We want to teach them and present to them everything we believe it's correct that they have. And I think for example, Samantha is talking about it a lot. They can choose on their own. So let's prepare everything in a way that is engaging and fun for them, but if they wanna do something else in between, yeah, that the entire space will be designed this way. And I think this is kind of like a new trend so to say, like, I'm super happy that adopting Bitcoin is is, organizing it, making it happen because it's a new thing. Couple of day a couple of years ago when I, for the first time, started, joining conferences, that was, yeah, mostly men, first of all, and no problem, but it was kind of like dry and and and completely different energy.
Then sometimes they were like single parents bringing kids, but mostly struggling with what to do with the kids. And now we see all new generation. I can call it like sovereign generation. So many different, age groups, you know, coming. Some of them, they are already Bitcoiners because they are coming from the big big like orange pill families. Some of them are drinking their friends. Some of them are becoming Bitcoiners later on, like before they were like Bitcoin neutral, but their parents are Bitcoiners and then they came, to conferences. They make friendships. So it's all about, like, connecting, exploring, learning,
[00:17:16] Unknown:
about yourself, others. So, yeah, this whole space is, yeah, a lot of work, but but I'm sure we we are going to to deliver an exceptional experience for everyone. So And that's what it's about. It's about the experience. And you you, of course, you nailed it. Obviously, as educators, we all understand there's different, not only adult learning types, but there's different things that are developmentally appropriate for kids as they grow on their journey. And so, you're not gonna bring an 11 year old necessarily. I mean, Samantha's an exception. Her brain is out here. But to sit in boring talks with adults and expect them to get excited and learn. Like, there's different ways. And so I love that you guys are doing this and making it fun and accessible.
And this, again, this keeps the families hopefully more together because some people might be like, well, I can't not I can't go to the conferences now because I need to stay home with my kids. So it's like, well, let's bring your kids, you know. Yeah. And here's like one more maybe reason why to come and why it can attract more people, even like locals.
[00:18:15] Unknown:
Anyway, like, you can enter this space for free if you are, having a ticket to the conference. So you you don't pay anything extra. So why not? Like, what why not to just come even for an hour or 2 the 1st day? If you like it, you can come the other day. I mean, it's why not? It's it's in
[00:18:33] Unknown:
cool extra. So, yeah. It is. And there's so much to do too in El Salvador. It's not just like, okay, I'm in the city or I'm at the beach. I mean, going into the mountains is exceptionally beautiful. I didn't get to make it up to Berlin, which is, you know, that was one of my bucket list things to do, but I didn't get to go last time. So, we'll talk about Berlin in just a second, Kiki, because I want to talk about the farmer's market and I want to talk about the events too. But, Yeah. Thank you, Shala. Okay. Okay. Kamal, you've been at this for for a minute, my friend. Like, what's changed for you over the last few years with, you know, how you see people coming together? Are you seeing more, more traction with people getting their projects going that are, you know, businesses starting to come to El Salvador and people are starting to say, I mean, Kiki's obviously there, right? You know, people have been like, okay, I'm gonna come here. I'm gonna live. I wanna move. I wanna I wanna get my groove on.
How's it been coming for people? How's it been going for people coming from out of the country? And then how is it for, you know, folks in the country with adoption? Like, I wanna talk about those two questions.
[00:19:40] Unknown:
I mean, we we touched on already a couple of the changes. In the 1st year in 2021, it was, you know, very dedicated people, Bitcoiners, but not necessarily with their families or their wives or their children even, you know, like, no. At that time, something like that, it was already courageous to, you know, during COVID with all these travel restrictions and, you know, before the state of extraction that basically made the country secure, to go there. It was you had to be very special breed of adventurous Bitcoiner and a lot of enthusiasm and also situational awareness to understand, you know, the magnitude of what's happening there. And, you know, there were a lot of haters and people talking bad about this and basically trying to say that this is not going anywhere.
And they've all been proven wrong. I mean and, like, spectacularly proven wrong. Right? Like, let's not forget that. There were so many haters and, especially in the bear market, make making fun, you know. Oh, you're all down. How's your investment going? How's your trade going? And stuff. You know, let's not forget that. So all these people are now silent and the country is secure. Like Kiki and Shilali noticed, the rate of women adopting Bitcoin has shot up 22, 23, like, we're at almost parity. It's, it's really, like, except it's remarkable if you look at Bitcoin conferences, how high the rate of women is.
Also, the amount of children and families, you know. I mean, it's not for just because we wish to love. There's real families coming. Like, we do this because there's a need. Right? Like, there there are children coming to adopt in Bitcoin. And so I'm super, super grateful that, Shalale is, you know, with the BTC Junior Club is coming on and, you know, creating this place for, you know, the youngest and our future to to continue what we're doing here. And and they have to be yeah. They they have to learn somewhere. They have to start somewhere. And doing it at adopting Bitcoin in Bitcoin country, you know, there's nothing better than that. Like, I was there with my kids last year, for 6 weeks. I brought them. They were 42.
I mean, my it's my it's it was the 4th political conference of his son. Right? He's only 4. So, okay. The first one, he was still in the womb of my wife.
[00:22:33] Unknown:
Of life.
[00:22:35] Unknown:
He's nuts. Yeah. Okay. So but, you know, it's just really a super family friendly place. And it's also, like, aligns with where we're at, you know, in Bitcoin. And if you look out and zoom out, we have the nerds and libertarians and stuff. We have the early adopters, innovators. You know, now we are, you know, expanding. We're we're crossing the chasm, right, to the early majority of adoption cycles. This is the adoption cycle, you know. There was a BlackRock study that even that even said that, you know, the Bitcoin adoption is going faster than the Internet adoption.
We're only 15 years young, and and look where we are. It's insane. And a lot of people, like, perceive that everything takes time and it's slow and stuff, but it's going so fast. And especially if you look at El Salvador, and I've been, you know, in the 1st year, we didn't have Bitcoin companies that were Salvadoran. We were the 1st Bitcoin company with Bitcoin Beach Wallet. Yeah. And there was no other really on the ground. Well, there were. Maybe Ibex was there as well. And that was basically it in the 1st year, you know. And now look at, our expo hall, you know, it's 80% is Salvadorian Bitcoin companies. And that was also already last year, but it's been gradually, you know, improving and going up. And, you know, the there are just also the satellite events, all the Bitcoiners and events and that have established themselves, like the BTC farmers market, but also the circular economies that have now popped up outside of El Zonte.
Like in Berlin, we've talked about it. There's another one, in Santa Ana currently and also in San Miguel. So, you know, it's happening, and it's only 3 years. And, of course, and it's going into, you know, if if you take away, like, this crazy idea that just because the president said you should be use Bitcoin, everybody will use Bitcoin. You know, it takes some time for people to get accustomed to it, to, you know, see, okay, wow, this thing is still around. And the technology has been improving in the meantime, and education has been, you know, being translated, not only from English to Spanish, but also from Spanish to English. I mean, Bitcoin is also, you know, like, happening in the ground. It's a Salvadoran project that is now impacting Bitcoin adoption globally because it's giving it's it's got it's created the education's Bitcoin standard, basically, you know, that is now being translated and proliferated in many, many languages, with the Bitcoin diploma. So it's beautiful. I couldn't be happier being in the seat where I see so many of these things and get to know so many of these people, amazing people.
You know, you've seen it yourself, Valerie. Like, it's a special kind of people, you know, that come to adopting Bitcoin, and then they go home and and spread that in their communities. And and, yep, everything is going according to plan, and, I couldn't be more excited to be part of this.
[00:26:14] Unknown:
Yeah. I so appreciate all of your effort and your wonderful high vibes, Kamal. Like, it is like when you come to these events, you know, it's like a family reunion. And if you are new to them, you get to be welcomed into the family. It's not a cult, I swear. But it's like, I feel like, you know, I'm going to be friends with you guys forever, you know, because we're on this lifelong mission. And when you meet each other, and when we're doing stuff, and having fun, and, oh, you just ran into someone and you grab a cup of coffee, or, oh, oh, let's go share an Uber. Let's walk over here. We're going to the next thing. And all of a sudden you drop in and you're sitting on the bus with somebody and then you realize you have all this other stuff in common. It's just like that doesn't happen in the digital world.
You know? And it's there's a there's a trust issue in the digital world. And as much as we think like, oh, cool. No. You can see my profile. I'm a good person. No. You need to be skinned in in each other's energy fields as human beings, you know. And and magic happens in those places, you know. And so I think, unfortunately, a lot of people, especially right now, have us versus them vibes going on in the world. And and it's really sad for me to see this whether it's political, whether it's, you know, money, whether it's Bitcoin and shitcoin. You know? It's like, the reality is we need to focus our energy on unifying love and unifying our hearts together. You know? And by doing these kinds of events, it it's, like, exponentially growing that opportunity for us to be humans again. And I think COVID did number on many, many of us, all of us, basically, on the planet and created these sense of mistrust. And it takes time to kind of build that back. And so being able to be in person with each other is one extraordinarily healing way. And so, I think, in addition to the education, it's very healing to come to these conferences and to these events and meetups and being in person and realizing, like, there's actually hope.
There's hope for humanity. And look, you guys are legit. Woo hoo. You know? And I know I always say Bitcoin is hope in action, you know? And it's so important for us to really give ourselves as many doses of that as possible. Kiki, I would love to hear a little bit more about the farmers markets and the circular economies up in Berlin and obviously Alazante, you know, Kamal was mentioning that. For those listening, if you guys don't know what a circular economy is, maybe, Kiki, you can give a little, understanding for the crew.
[00:28:48] Unknown:
Yeah, Absolutely. So just to start off with, there's it's amazing what Bitcoin Beach has done in El Zonte. I spent 2 years two and a half years living in El Zonte and, got to spend some time volunteering with them. But it's also incredible to see how that's being, kind of spreading out throughout the country, and it's also popping up in places you would not expect it in the countryside, in small communities. There's an island called La Peraya, which is a bit of a journey to get to, but if you're here and you have extra time, I definitely recommend that you do.
And the idea is just like, okay, we have this tool available to us. Let's get everybody on board to using it. I'm going to, you know, maybe I'm the one earning an online job in Bitcoin or I'm earning in Fiat. I'm changing that into Bitcoin. But when I go into my community, I'm going to spend my Bitcoin at the vendors who will accept it from there. Then they can go and either pay their suppliers or pay for their needs in life, whether that's business related or their rent or their water or what have you. And to keep the circulation flowing, it's especially interesting being in a country. And maybe one of the reasons it has become successful in this way is because we're in a country where they don't hold their own currency. They're on the US dollar. Right? Mhmm.
And, yeah. But in terms of what's going on across El Salvador as a whole, it's really, exciting. I was actually having a conversation the other day and someone There was a study that was released recently, and it said only 7.5 percent of Salvadorans responded to a poll saying that they actively used bitcoin. And someone put that into a group that I was in and said, oh, this is really disappointing. Like, I thought it would be more, etcetera, etcetera. But what I kind of explained was I think it's happening in places where we kind of least expect it. Like, I was just told about a new kind of, like, a start up hub slash cafe that has opened in Santa Ana by a team of people who have been going to some of the Santa Ana Bitcoin meetups. And Santa Ana is technically, I think, the one of the top five biggest cities in El Salvador, but it's not huge necessarily. There's not a ton of people, and it's kind of far away, like, it's kind of out of the way. If you're a tourist, you're gonna go there for the volcano, to hike the volcano, and that's kind of if most of the time, maybe stop for lunch.
But it's a whole, you know, city and economy, and it's got an amazing history in and of itself, and to see them kind of take a grassroots approach, to kind of take what they have been doing in Berlin and start something up themselves and and feel ownership and pride over that is really incredible. I think a lot of that started with the influence of the Berlin group. So in Ustulutan, which is about 2 and a half hours from San Salvador, 3, 3 and a half from El Zonte into the mountains, Bitcoin Berlin, they have, I think, over a 150 merchants onboarded Wow. Using Bitcoin now. And, like, it's not it's an even smaller place, like, very, very tiny, but everywhere you go, whatever you're looking for, you will either be able to pay in Bitcoin or you will have access to someone who will help you discuss it with the the vendor and people. Every time we go there, there's more more people accepting it. And again, that's, like, very grassroots effort. It's, a couple of locals and a couple of expats who are just kind of on the same mission and ready to, learn and further their own development, but also support their communities and build a community.
And it's been, yeah, amazing to see what's been going on. We have a few, of the representatives from these different areas, that are gonna be at the conference as well, presenting both in English and Spanish, which I think to double down is incredible for some of the Salvadorans that are living in the city and maybe are curious about what's going on. They don't know a whole lot about bitcoin yet. They haven't taken the time, but for them to see, you know, Berlin making headlines because of this or Santa Ana or San Miguel, it's like it's just the network effect.
[00:32:56] Unknown:
Yeah. Big time. And what are you seeing, Kiki, with, like, you know, the transformational vibes or the energy of the people who are living in these communities? Do you feel like there's a different sense of purpose, sense of hope, sense of community, sense of possibility?
[00:33:14] Unknown:
Certainly. Yeah. I think that's one of the, things people always say when they come to El Salvador. They feel you can feel that a weight has been kind of lifted because of the security situation and that people feel that they have a little bit more, hope and opportunity in their lives. I would be lying if I said everything was perfect, right? Like, this is still a country, there's still politics involved, but it is truly, like, one of the most amazing feelings to feel that sense of hope. Whether it is, you know, an abuela selling you, like, a Coke and tamales at the corner store, or you're going to something a little bit more fancy, like, one of the interesting things from my perspective is there's a bunch of new, like, high end luxury restaurants and hotels that are opening up across the country. These things never, like maybe they existed a while back or they existed in a very, very small capacity, but the idea that that
[00:34:09] Unknown:
people are taking their capital and investing in these sorts of things, I think, is, like, really, a bullish sign. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's super bullish, and it's super exciting because you think I I understand tourism and travel and, you know, people coming to visit, those numbers have, you know, blossomed quite a bit, since, since Bitcoin became legal tender and obviously since it's safer. So, of course, it's not gonna feel, as an investor, very comfortable investing in a country or a place that doesn't have sound money and doesn't have sound, you know, security. And so now they've got both. And so I think it's neat to see, you know, this influx of new ideas and people who are fed up with the system where they live. I mean, it keeps getting more and more, there's no perfect system, period. There's no such thing. You know, we're always striving towards a better, existence as humans on Earth. But, you know, some of them keep crumbling and crumbling, and I love to see that, like, cool, where can we go and have this freedom to build, you know, where it's not shunned, but it's actually supported, you know, from the community and from the, the powers that be. So I think that's a really huge testament to people who are out there feeling like, nothing's ever gonna get better. Yes, it is. It definitely is. It is because you make it better, and it is because you find other people who are also on a mission to make it better. And that's what I love about you guys. So And And I would also say, Val, sorry to interrupt you. I would also say, like,
[00:35:35] Unknown:
it's not just about the luxury aspect at all. There's plenty of other aspects as well, but I would to further your point, it's also about the the time preference that you have. Right? When you do have a low time preference and you're able to understand that while you're by interacting with Bitcoin, you are investing in your own future and the future of your communities. El Salvador is like showing proof of that happening. For example, there's, 3 sisters that, were part of the leaders team for Bitcoin Beach and Hope House. And just about 6 months ago, I would say they opened a hostel in El Zonte called Hostel of Myara.
They accept Bitcoin for their stays and they were able to save their money. They work in the medical field. They have a really interesting background and story, but they were able to save their money that they have been earning in Bitcoin and open up this hostel. And this is now another, you know, avenue of income for them to further their lives, to, like, meet new people. They're providing housing for Bitcoiners when they come to stay. Like, it just it it compounds, you know? It's amazing. It's called Hostel Mayara?
[00:36:41] Unknown:
Yes. Okay. I'll put, make sure that goes in the show notes. That's, yeah, this is so inspirational. I love it. And I love, you know, the entrepreneurial spirit that gets activated in people too. And because it's like, oh, I can go do this and then you make it happen. Like I love entrepreneurs and creators. It's such a good vibe for sure. Shella, you are a multifaceted woman with the Bitcoin Film Fest, with your art and with your clothing lines and with the stuff you're doing with the kids. Like, how do you feel like the culture of, art, music, film, and everything is impacting Bitcoin? And how do you see it, you know, moving forward down there in El Salvador? This is gonna be a fun
[00:37:25] Unknown:
Yeah. Actually, I'm very excited to go excited to go there because it's really, like, the country that adopted it, and it's growing finally thanks to it. So it was the one of the countries that was always bullied. And then looking what's happening all around at the western hemisphere, or I can mostly speak from from Europe, like, yeah, it's like a old ship groaning, and then in Salvador, it's just like growing and and and flourishing. And it's maybe it's like a blueprint for everyone. You know? Just not only to prove that it's possible, but it's also how to make some things. I mean, some other neighboring countries in LatAm or in the Central America, they are also waking up. And it's even more exciting that we will be doing this space for kids so they can experience first time. So referring, for example, to Samantha, just one one thing. She said in one of the interviews that she was so happy to join this stage in the adopting Bitcoin, the first or second edition, I think, because Fader mentioned that we are going there. And she said, hey. I never actually adopted Bitcoin. I was born into Bitcoin, but I never adopted it. So I would like to speak, speak in there. So it's amazing that all these kids, like, hopefully, the families will stay couple of days before and, like, they will come before and then stay after, especially for the side events. But that all these kids, they can experience this firsthand. Go and buy something, spend in Bitcoin because it's money at the end of the day. But, to answer your question about culture, I would actually say that Bitcoin is helping the same as it's helping the humanity, giving us hope, reminding us about love, about values, integrity, bringing us together.
The same way it's helping culture. So fiat money, like the broken money, broken society, broken culture. It's also like a huge mafia just to simplify it. Yesterday, we were running a space with a couple of filmmakers like Alana Max, also creator of Indie Hub, was cool thing where we were actually discussing where are the biggest blockers and limitations in the film industry. But it's not only film industry. It's art. It's everything that is surrounding us, and it's actually a vicious circle because first of all, it's blocking you so you are demotivated as a creator. 2nd, the outcome of any kind of sphere is rotten. It's it's spoiled. It's full of propaganda.
And even if you have good intentions as creator, you cannot do that. First of all, you cannot make money. You have inflation and stuff. 2nd, you are, restricted or, yeah, you know that you cannot even speak loud some ideas because they will never become reality. And then as a consumer, you are just absorbing the shallow trash, so to say stuff. So your life is even more stress stressful, more miserable. So it's it's just very sad, you know, and kids are grown grown and born into this. Actually, many people gave up on having kids these days. Right? This is another very sad thing. So what we are doing now with adopting Bitcoin is Bitcoin bringing maybe locals, bringing the entire families to visit El Salvador, experience this, yeah, amazing country, very small but so brave firsthand.
Join this space, learn, make friendships because kids and teens, they can also make great friends maybe, you know, in there. What I'm trying to do with Bitcoin Junior Clap as well and all the other things that you you mentioned, Valerie. Thank you. It's just to show people that, yes, we can do that. We are building a parallel world that is better. Everyone is welcome. If you are just a freedom seeker, there is a space to come to join, to keep us like, to help us building these things. So and to especially inspire younger generations that are the most prone to learn the bet patterns and to be,
[00:41:04] Unknown:
let's say, growing into very miserable adults. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's so important. I know I don't know if you guys have read Sub Bunny's book, The Hidden Cost of Money. It's so good, But really thinking about how the fiat system is tearing the families apart and creating these long term mental health issues, for the adults and the kids. And it's really, you know, when people start to really take time to connect the dots and realize it's like it's not just this, this, or that. I mean, when you're building the society on a foundation of toxic fiat soil, like, only cancerous things can grow, you know? And so it's like we have this beautiful sound money now, and we have this opportunity to start thinking of regenerative money, regenerative families, regenerative societies, you know? And I know, Kiki, you've got beef back better with grass fed Salvadorian beef. So I think what's neat is when people start to think about the interconnectivity in the system that we're in, it's like it's so important to understand these things because a lot of people will go and, you know, try to take pills and not learn skills and do all the stuff that is detrimental to themselves because they have the short term mindset, you know. And so, that's what's interesting about Bitcoin. You know, we're okay to be a little patient, you know? And so I think raising children with that mindset and getting out of the instant, instant, instant gratification is gonna be very, very healthy for the longevity of humanity on earth.
So, it's just fascinating how the rabbit holes keep going in with the health and the wellness and the creativity and the art and the money and the family, everything. So, Kamal, I want to ask you, I'm going to bring up the website right now, and I'm going to bring up some of the, like, you've got so many speakers here and I'd love for you to share, like, because I know this isn't like some, oh, we're making a whole bunch of money here doing this. I know how expensive it is to put these, events on. Can you guys see the screen? Yeah. You can see the screen.
So, I mean, the tickets, you guys have got tickets for people who are, you know, local Salvadorans that are very affordable, $21 You've got obviously some tickets, prices going up for regular tickets and then, you know, some VIP stuff. So I think that's so great. You guys have got the best sponsors. I love all of these guys. What's Bebop? I don't know Bebop.
[00:43:25] Unknown:
Bebop is a really cool company from Switzerland. They are developing open source software. You can think of it a little bit like Bizzie Pay Server. Okay. Less, but more for artists and creatives. Oh, cool. Okay. I got you. So it's very easy to set up and the customization is really cool. You make you can make your shop, you know, just it doesn't just work technically, like the space over, but it also has this component where you really can, you know, host it yourself and and and style it really beautifully. So I'm really curious to to see those workshops from Lionel and his team of Bebop. Amazing.
[00:44:11] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. That's gonna be so cool. And then check out all your speakers, guys. Like, you've got a presidential candidate, Maya. She came on the show. I got to have her on a few months back. I mean, you guys have got some seriously hard hitters here. Max and Stacy, of course, Tone, everybody, Nick, Giacomo. Yay, Efraat's going to be there. Dusan, oh my God. Dusan. See, okay. Here's an example of why you have to go to the conferences, guys. I remember we were at the speakers dinner and Dusan and I were waiting, you know, because there's like the restroom, whatever. And we're just like waiting in line and just be had the best connection. I'm like, I love this dude. He's so cool, you know, and just really happy. He's great. He is. He's such a just, oh, yum. Yeah. And IDH is also doing many great things in in their,
[00:44:59] Unknown:
native country, like in Honduras. What they are doing, it's also incredible.
[00:45:03] Unknown:
It's so cool. And and, again, that's another, you know, example of building in the circular economy vibes. I mean, look at all these guys. You've got, Svetzky, Luke, Dennis. Oh my god. Alejandra. Miss Bitcoin. Oh my god. She's the best. Andre's coming. I have so much fun. I wanna come and hug all of you guys. This is you guys, seriously, whoever's watching this, you if you're ever thinking you want to go to, El Salvador, you must go. It's just gonna change your life. It is so oh, look at all these wonderful human there's Samantha. Oh my gosh. She's the best. You guys, seriously,
[00:45:39] Unknown:
I'm gonna miss you guys so much. I'm gonna cry. So you you seem like you are showing. We will be missing you as well, but I I'm sure we will feel your energy and we will be sending you photos, you know. But you were showing Samantha. So actually there are a couple of so we will have not only at the Bitcoin Paraneos, not only panels, with adults, but especially because the program is designed for kids. There will be also like software panels where kids and teenagers can join. So Samantha is one of them, but there will be also other awesome teams, sharing their experiences. Like one of the panels is called like taking orange peel. So how they life change, you know, like just talking life, normal, basic things, but in between trying to also express what and how they see this whole Bitcoin thing.
And among many of these speakers, there are amazing educators and also teenagers or people young adults who were just recently also Orangeville, like, if you scroll, many of them, like, locals from Salvador as well. So it's incredible.
[00:46:38] Unknown:
I think, you know and getting the perspective of the young people is is a game changer because, you know, we need to know, like, what are they thinking about? And, you know, I remember when Samantha was on my show after I met her because I was like, oh my gosh, I really I would love to learn more about you and interview you. And she, you know, I was like, what can us adults do to support the younger generation? You know, how can we be in service because we've obviously made kind of a giant mess of everything? And what can we do? You know? And and it was just like, let us have the mic, Let us talk. You know, listen to us. Like, we want you guys to hear us.
So I think, you know, giving them stages, giving them places to present, giving them places to gather is like, it's such an important thing. This is so great. I'm just so glad you guys are doing the young zone, the youth zone. It's going to be great. And then let's talk about the side events. Like I'll scroll through some of these, you guys, because I know we're running on time here, but, this is going to be going, you said like from 10th to 16th, and then the following weekend, there's going to be something in Berlin. So I'll let you guys just kind of share like what's going on. And I'll sort of slowly scroll here.
[00:47:55] Unknown:
If you wanna start and then like Yeah.
[00:47:57] Unknown:
No problem. I mean, it's just so cool. Like, me premiere Bitcoin graduation, you guys. Like, that's such a cool thing to get. If you can get to go see these kids who are, you know, studying and learning. You've got bit devs.
[00:48:09] Unknown:
Mhmm. Oh my gosh. Yeah. The BitDevs is, almost 1 year old now. It's started by Nicola Berti. Every city should have their BitDevs, you know, technical talks, getting together, chat time house rules, talking, like straight up Bitcoin technology, you know. So San Salvador has that too now. It's been going on, and there's going to be a special one for adopting Bitcoin. Super stoked. Yeah. That's great. Great participants. Very high, like, Bitcoin core developers, amazing wizards and cryptologists that now have settled in El Salvador, you know, because it's a Bitcoin country. They go there and talk Bitcoin.
[00:48:50] Unknown:
It's so cool. And and, like, again, anybody listening, it's like there's something for everybody. It's not just like, oh, you have to be a cryptographer to go to a Bitcoin conference. No. You don't. Like, you can be an artist. You can be a creative. You can be a DJ. You can be a podcaster. You can be an entrepreneur or anything. And so, that's super cool. So this is, sovereignty studios. That's Mike Ruiz. Right? Exactly. Yeah. I've been following some of his stuff. He looks like he's doing great stuff down there. Oh, Mujeres in Bitcoin. Who's Oh, who's doing this? Yay.
Reina Chica. Yes. Are you guys all doing that? I wanna grab.
[00:49:27] Unknown:
We need to make, like, a cut out of you. Oh my god. I know. Totally.
[00:49:33] Unknown:
Not a blow up doll. That would be weird. And the UN conference, you guys, tell everybody what the UN conference is. That was one of my favorite things. And I got to go to the one in Portugal and obviously one in, El Salvador last year. Tell whoever wants to share with the UN conferences.
[00:49:52] Unknown:
I haven't had a chance to go, Kamal.
[00:49:55] Unknown:
Yeah. I was at the one in Madeira, and I haven't managed to go to the previous My First Bitcoin, Unconferences. We've had them in the last few years, I think. But basically, it's an Unconference. An Unconference is not scheduled. You go there, and then there's a general session in the beginning, and and everybody just who wants who has something to share with other Bitcoiners, they just, you know, propose that topic. It puts gets put on a cart, they get scheduled on the spot, and, yep, and then people can choose to go to that session. Right? It's just made up on the spot, very spontaneous, organized chaos or unorganized, you know, ad conference. It's, it's great. And it's all education focused from people, you know, that are really thinking day and night about how to best explain Bitcoin to various audiences.
[00:50:52] Unknown:
Yeah. It's a great it's a great, great experience too. I like that too because it's it's casual, but it's still it's semi organized, but it's like it's peer to peer, you know, and it's everybody gets to choose, like, oh, cool, we're gonna vote that this panel actually is gonna happen. I think it's really, really a neat way to gather people together to talk and have a little consensus about what's what's the most exciting thing. Almost like you what are those upvote things on? Is it on Reddit? Or what are those things where you upvote stuff? It's sort of like that. Okay. And then, Dirty Coin. Oh, my gosh. Alana, she's a bomb. I love this film. You guys have to check that out for sure. Of course, the speakers dinner for everybody who's showing up. The after party.
I'm gonna miss it. I will be there on the dance floor with you guys. If you see glow sticks, it might be me in the corner. But after you guys put on the best parties. And then Bitcoin Beach, tell everybody about Bitcoin Beach and El Zonte.
[00:51:47] Unknown:
Yeah. So you go. Yeah. Go ahead. No. You left you left there. What should I say? I mean
[00:51:53] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, they're they're ground 0. Right? Like, they've they've been, hitting the ground really hard in terms of adoption, education, community building, from, you know, they had, surf pair at Totos, like the the young kids surfing program that we also spoke about Bitcoin in, and it was also educational and a good opportunity for local kids to to connect and to learn and develop skills of all kinds. But then they've been partnering whether it's with me from your Bitcoin or with the government on education across the country.
Right? So they've been monumental. And for the past couple of years, everybody has always enjoyed, myself included, going down to, El Zonte for the the kind of unofficial 3rd day, if you will, of the conference. This year, I know that they've got a bunch of stuff planned. I think they're actually gonna do a 2 day thing. I know they're planning on doing, like, a gastronomic festival. Usually, there's a pupusa eating contest, which I would highly recommend you a visit or you get to experience, because it's pretty interesting. Surf competitions, like, enjoy the beach, enjoy getting to know Bitcoin Beach, the people that live there, the companies, that sort of thing.
[00:53:07] Unknown:
Yeah. Looking forward to that one. Yeah. It's it's so cool. I know we stayed an extra couple days, and it's so worth it, like, you know, to go visit and cruise around and see what's happening with everybody. Oh, yay. There's everybody. It it's such a cool vibe for sure. And then, okay, they're doing a Freedom Riders. What is that? They're doing by bike a motorcycle tour for a week. Alan is a bomb. He's gonna be doing that. Oh my gosh. How fun. Pretty cool. I I wish I rode a motorcycle. I know. Well, that's That would be such a cool place to do it, like, going near the volcanoes and the ocean. And, oh, my god. Mhmm. How cool. Okay. Freedom Convoy. What is this? San Salvador to El Zonte? Is this just everybody's, like, is it still is it motorcycle also again? Is that I believe I think you rent the bikes. Yeah. Involved.
[00:53:53] Unknown:
I think, I think I think it's, yeah, a genuine convoy.
[00:53:57] Unknown:
Yeah. A convoy. But you guys are too all too young, but there's an old old, who was in it? Not not Burt Reynolds. It's an old movie from the seventies convoy. It was about truckers and stuff. It was so ridiculous. Oh my god. Luke. Yay. He's doing a Bitcoin boot camp. Luke's awesome. That's gonna be so cool. Nostra Day. Yeah. I heard oh, and Tanya. Yeah. She's gonna be on the show next week. This is so cool. I love that Nostra is gonna be there. You guys are gonna be learning, you know, sharing what Noster is with everybody. How are people using Noster down there in El Salvador, Kiki?
To be honest, not yet. Not yet. Okay. Cool. Maybe Tanya and this whole traveling Noster booth will help. Exactly.
[00:54:40] Unknown:
Exactly.
[00:54:41] Unknown:
So cool. And, oh, yay. Rowatan. Oh, gosh. That's gonna be amazing. You guys, this is so much stuff. I'm so impressed. Like, this is keeps this is, like, 10 times more than last year. Holy shit. Oh, yeah. Oh my gosh. And I feel like we keep getting messages,
[00:54:59] Unknown:
like, every couple of days. Hey. We're doing this. Like, can we add this? Or yeah. It's great. Gosh. In Bitcoin Lake in Guatemala, they're gonna have a thing there too. So,
[00:55:08] Unknown:
wow, you guys. This is incredible.
[00:55:11] Unknown:
Like, I'm blown away. I'm just seriously blown away. Yeah. Get yourself Sorry, Vala. I should put a little asterisk on my comment about Noster because, on like a large scale, maybe as we see on the Internet, is the adoption the same? Maybe not. But there is like a group, illuminodes who are working to bring, Noster into, El Salvador in any kind of way. There's a specific, health protocol that's being introduced. There's gonna be some some talks about that and, like owning your medical data. And so it's it's small, but it's mighty, and it's growing.
[00:55:51] Unknown:
I love it. Yeah. I I remember when I went not last year, but it was the 1st year, and there was, it was like a lightning showcase for these kids. And, oh gosh, Kamal. Where was it? We all took I don't remember if you were there, but we took these buses. And we went to this place, and it was at a school. And they had, like, this fair, and they wanted all of us to judge the kids in their lightning projects. And there was something about medical information or getting your prescriptions using lightning. And it was just it's so neat to see these kids building on lightning 2 years ago even. You know? And I'm just like, holy cow. I keep waiting to Just more things are gonna keep blossoming here.
So I wanna make sure everybody knows where to find you guys and how to get a hold of you. I'm gonna put this is gonna be a whole bunch of stuff on the screen, guys. So if you're listening, you're not gonna see it. But I'll have everything in the show notes so you can find everything, of course, on YouTube and my channel. But okay, so what's Beef Back Better? Tell everybody, Kiki, really quick, what's Beef Back Better?
[00:56:50] Unknown:
A 100% Salvadoran grass fed, pastured beef. These are the happiest cows I've ever seen in my whole life. And it is distributed directly to your door or through a few stores, in San Salvador.
[00:57:03] Unknown:
Beautiful. And, obviously, adopting Bitcoin, you can go to adopting bitcoin.org. You can use djval and get 10% off your tickets. The tickets are going up November 1st, so go get your tickets, guys. And they all the money goes towards education and making this event possible. This is not people are not getting rich again from any of these events. Not a single Bitcoin conference are giant moneymakers. They're always either losses or breakevens. Nobody's walking away with, like, another a 1000 sat or a 1000 Bitcoins. So so the it really I know how much effort goes into the events. They're labors of beautiful love by all the people. So, so definitely show up and get that going. And then, obviously, you've got Bitcoin Farmers Market. That's you guys are doing that in Al Zonte and Berlin, and then you've got another one too. And I have the link tree's up here for you guys to check out.
Bitcoin for youth.com. That's Shailah Shailah's thing, and we're gonna have you guys follow any place else besides x that you they people should be following you. This is where you can follow Kamal at Pretty Flaco. What what does this mean, Kamal? What's Pretty Flaco mean?
[00:58:09] Unknown:
Pretty flaco
[00:58:10] Unknown:
Yeah. Means
[00:58:12] Unknown:
the handsome skinny guy in Spanish.
[00:58:16] Unknown:
In in in what? In what language? Spanish.
[00:58:18] Unknown:
In Spanish? Flaco means skinny in Spanish. Yeah. Flaco is pretty. Pretty is pretty, you know, just with a little orthography mistake.
[00:58:29] Unknown:
You are the beautiful skinny guy, Kamal. I love it. Yeah. Shala, they can find you on x@aza_21m, and Kiki, your Bitcoin babe. Bay bae. Let's go with it with the y at the end, and you guys can go to x and follow adopting, BTC to make sure you guys give everybody a follow. It helps, you know, to get the word out and cross pollinate each other's social media so that people can start understanding
[00:58:54] Unknown:
what the hype is happening. All of us is also on Nostra. Just difficult to put the end pubs here. I know. The end pubs are weird. Yeah. It's also there. And if I may just say because other people who are helping us at least to to to to make this happen, they are not here, on this live session. But there is like Ian, he is also one of the speakers, Econo, and Econo kids. Yeah. Exactly. And there are yeah. So many amazing people like helping, supporting, sending some materials, being there, volunteering. So I just wanted to before we finish and before I forget, I just wanted to, like, yeah, say thank you everyone. Like, Kiki is putting a tremendous, work, like, putting a lot. But, yeah, a lot of other people are also helping. So, yeah, thank you. Takes a village.
[00:59:39] Unknown:
It does take a giant orange village. It's pretty cool. Any final thoughts for you guys? Like, any I wanna go around for each of you, like, for anybody who's thinking about coming or is coming, you know, any final thoughts? I'll start with you, Kiki.
[00:59:52] Unknown:
Oh, boy. Be open minded. Be open minded, whether that's in your conversations with people and what you see and what you expect from the country. Just come in with an open mind and an open heart and, try new things. Like you said, it's always important to put yourself a little bit out of your comfort zone, stay aware of yourself and your surroundings and whatnot. But, it's a safe place, tons of really interesting people from all different countries, all walks of life. Just come in with an open mind and an open heart, and you are going to have a great time.
[01:00:28] Unknown:
I'd love it. That's great, great advice. What about you, Shala?
[01:00:32] Unknown:
Yeah. I was here, like, invite every younger members of families to come with their parents. Also, if there are some teenagers coming, maybe ask, some peers, some colleagues, friends, to join because anyway, it's, if I'm not mistaken, anyone who is under 18 can attend adopting Bitcoin for free. I mean, this is incredible. So Wow. Do that, people. So, yes, I want to see a lot of teenagers and kids, just to hack everyone and and to learn and to explore together. So, yeah, hopefully, it's going to happen.
[01:01:03] Unknown:
Yeah. That's gonna be incredible. Thank you. Alright, Kamal. You got any words of wisdom for folks thinking about coming? Maybe they're on the fence or that they're already coming.
[01:01:13] Unknown:
Yeah. Find a nice partner, make a family. And if you've done all that, you know, come to Adapting with COIN. Also, if you want to do all these things, come to Adapting with COIN.
[01:01:27] Unknown:
I know. Right? You know?
[01:01:30] Unknown:
Look, it's, I mean, kids under the age of 18, free admission. Right? I just wanted to highlight that. We're a special breed, Bitcoiners. You know, we we agree on we know so much about each other already before we've met. We agree on so many things already before we've even talked. And, and, you know, that is a basis for, you know, the best of the relationships that you can build from that basis on. But even if you don't build anything on top of it, it's pretty fucking awesome. And, you know, it's, if you think Bitcoin is something on Twitter or on Reddit or on YouTube, you have no idea until you come to Adapting Bitcoin or another, you know, Bitcoin conference that keeps it real. Because there's Bitcoin conference and Bitcoin conferences.
I would I would like to emphasize that. Right? The people adopting Bitcoin, it's, you know, the real builders, the real revolution, and not people who think they're super important and have something to gain by shooting their backs. Right? Like, Bitcoin doesn't have leaders, and the people at adopting Bitcoin, they're humble, and they're hard workers, and they're absolutely beautiful people. In my experience so far, it's been always an absolute honor to to be there with these people. The connections that I've made have been amazing. And not forget also, we've had, you know, some presentations that people still talk about today because they have originated at Adopting Bitcoin. Not because they originate, but that's where they originated. Right?
There are there are projects, and this year is not going to be different. There's really a packed program. I hope we can come out today or tomorrow or latest Sunday with the 0.1 version of the schedule. It's going to blow people's minds out, and that's why I'm glad that we talked about all the satellite events, because, yeah, already extensively. But, yeah, that's a massive program, awaiting in a beautiful setting, in the dry season, lush green, surf, good food, good people, sunny weather in November. You know, anybody who needs a break from the post election craziness going on, you know, needs a break from US politics. I I can't imagine a bit better place to be at. So, yeah, the future is looking really indeed bright, in El Salvador.
And not everything is perfect, but it's going in this direction up. And and when and when when it does that, you have this positive reinforcement, and people have a good mood and then approach things in a playful manner. And when you have play, you have fun. And when you have fun, you know, good things happen, and and things turn out extra, extra beautifully. And and this is what's, you know, what's going on. And if you if people are curious how it looks like, like, I think adopting Bitcoin is, like, really, the best time to to come because it's just magnified massively.
[01:04:57] Unknown:
Yeah. It is. And I love it it does. It magnifies. And I always say raise your vibe, rock your missions. And, you know, being around these people, you all of us, you know, Bitcoiners and Bitcoiners in training, everyone will be a Bitcoiner one day. It does help you raise your vibe. It's like medicine for your soul. And so, get your tushies down there. And if you're wondering like, should I only stay for the length of the conference? No. Stay longer. Go early, stay later. You will have FOMO if you have to leave early because you're going to say, shoot, I wish I could go here. And so, if you're, if you're blessed enough to have another day, 2 days, however many days, like, stay. And go stay in the local areas too. You don't have to stay in the big stuff. Like, go support where locals are and go get to understand, like, what's happening down there because it's such cool vibes for sure.
I'm so grateful you guys came and spent all of your time and energy sharing this with us. And obviously, all the energy and work you're doing to make this going to be such a cool event, educational and fun and party. It's going to be great. So, I will be there in spirit in a little cutout version of Val. So we're and then we're also you guys, we're gonna be doing a Bitcoin for Families virtual summit. And several other, companies are gonna be there. We're gonna be trying to, you know, help support some other Bitcoin companies. It's, you know, it's a value for value summit, so it's for free. We'll be doing it on December 7th. But more importantly, before that, get yourselves down to, El Salvador. Go to adopting bitcoin.org and get your tickets before there's no more tickets left. Let's see. Someone else said something into the conference. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, so I love you guys. Wishing you all peace, love, and so much warm aloha. Thanks everybody for tuning in. And, we'll see you guys next time. And thanks again.
Mhmm. Aloha.
Introduction and Guest Welcome
Adopting Bitcoin Conference Overview
Kamal's Role and Bitcoin Adoption in El Salvador
Kiki's Journey to Bitcoin and Community Building
Shala's Bitcoin Junior Club and Education Initiatives
Bitcoin Integration and Shopify Discussion
First Bitcoin Conference Experiences
Safety and Community in El Salvador
Family and Bitcoin: Building Together
Engaging Kids in Bitcoin Education
Bitcoin Adoption and Growth in El Salvador
Circular Economies and Local Impact
Community Transformation and Hope
Entrepreneurial Spirit and Opportunities
Cultural Impact of Bitcoin
Bitcoin Conferences and Networking
Side Events and Activities
Bitcoin Beach and El Zonte
Noster and Technological Integration
Final Thoughts and Encouragement to Attend
